Career diplomat and National Commission for Minorities Chairman Mohammad, Hamid Ansari, will in all likelihood be the next vice-president as the UPA-Left selected him as its nominee on Friday.

The announcement of his selection by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi after a meeting of the UPA-Left at the Prime Minister’s 7, Race Course Road makes it a near forgone conclusion that he would be the next vice-president since the ruling front has a clear majority in Parliament.

With UNPA candidate Rasheed Masood filing his nomination papers on Friday and National Democratic Alliance also announcing that it would field its own candidate, the Opposition votes would get divided against a united UPA-Left combine.

In the vice-presidential election, the electoral college comprises only the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs and thus is a straight forward contest for majority.

Unanimous
“Mr Ansari is UPA’s unanimous choice for vice-president,” Ms Gandhi announced. “All of us have come to the unanimous understanding that Mohammad Hamid Ansari would be our candidate,” she said in a statement issued after the meeting.

“He has an excellent track record of serving the nation in many capacities, including as civil servant and diplomat, as an academic and in his current position (of NCM chairman),” she said. The selection of Mr Ansari is politically significant because of the role he played as the NCM chairman in ensuring compensation to Gujarat riots victims as also backing a full re-look into the rehabilitation of all riot victims since 1984.

Reacting to his selection, Mr Ansari, considered an West Asia affairs and oil diplomacy expert, said: “I am humbled by the confidence reposed in me.”

Mr Ansari’s name was virtually clinched during the meeting   that CPM leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury had held late on Thursday night with Ms Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Later the formal stamp of approval was given at the UPA-Left meeting on Friday.

He led the list of contenders with noted historian and Jamia Milia University Vice-Chancellor Mushirul Hassan as a close second choice in case.