The victory of the Mayawati-led BSP in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections — with the party having secured a majority on its own — has made the Left go in for a rethink of its strategy of pushing its own candidate in the July presidential election.
Latest indications are that the Congress and the Left parties will now begin the exercise of evolving a consensus around a candidate who will be acceptable to all. The Left’s conditions are that The candidate should be a secular person with thorough knowledge of the working of the Constitution, Left party sources said, adding that they have made this clear to the UPA leadership.
The name of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee appears in view of his long experience in politics and governance. The Left parties may not have much reservations with him, the sources said.
The only factor against his shifting to Raisina Hills is the fact that he is seen as an indispensable factor in the current coalition set-up as a trouble shooter and a senior aide to both Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Considering the UP vote as a negative point for the NDA, whose leader BJP fancies chances of getting its candidate into the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Left parties are said to be veering round to the view that it may have to get together with the Congress-led UPA in this election.
Left sources said the BSP is offering support to the UPA government at the Centre and it will be only logical to expect it to back a candidate of the Central coalition. More so because the BSP does not have to depend on anyone’s support for its government and may have no serious reason to back an NDA candidate.
Gandhi and Singh have already held discussions with top leaders of the Left parties on a joint candidate to succeed Kalam, against whom outside supporters of the government have already made the position clear vis-a-vis a second term.
The ruling UPA commands nearly 4 lakh votes out of a total of nearly 11 lakh votes in the electoral college for the presidential elections. The NDA has about 3,60,000 votes and is banking on support from parties like BSP and anti-Congress groups like SP, Telugu Desam, AGP and AIADMK.
While BSP commands a vote share of over 55,000, including MLAs and MPs, the SP has a vote share of over 51,000 votes. The Left parties, including CPI(M), CPI and Forward Bloc, command nearly one lakh votes and are expected to tilt the race in favour of Congress-led UPA if it decides to support the ruling combine.