Two contestants — one confirmed and the other still probable — aspire to enter history books in the upcoming Presidential election. Pratibha Patil, the ruling UPA’s nominee, will create history as the country’s first woman President if she converts her huge advantage into victory in the July 19 election.
However, V-P Bhairon Singh Shekhawat hopes to stop Ms Patil and instead claim a historic first — as the first President elected on an Opposition ticket.
Never has the Opposition been able to elect its President in the last 11 elections held for the highest Constitutional post in the country.
The leadership of the BJP — Shekhawat’s chosen party during the long political career in Rajasthan until he became the Vice President in 2002 — and the NDA are well aware that they do not have the numbers to elect him as the President.
But Shekhawat has virtually forced his candidature on the reluctant BJP and the NDA leadership. In the process, personality has overshadowed politics in the BJP’s approach to the ensuing election.
An eternal optimist, Shekhawat also seems to be a great gambler in politics. His calculations of fighting the might of the ruling UPA combine is based on mere hope — hopes of affecting heavy “cross-voting” in the election that follows the system of secret ballot.
Further that hope is pinned on his belief that the MPs, regardless of their political affiliations, would quietly support him. That is a huge expectation, given the fact that the electors are rather hardcore party loyalists.  BJP leaders are being made to follow his moves. The problem is not just with the fact that Ms Patil has the numbers of the ruling combine on her side.
The JD(U) leaders are not convinced, though they have not made it known in public.
The Shiv Sena is split between its NDA affiliation and Ms Patil’s Maharashtra origins.  And, the Congress has made his cross-voting expectations that much more difficult as Ms Patil too happens to be a Rajput with Shekhawati connections from her marriage.