Yechury to be coordinator of Oppn alliance for prez election

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury to be the coordinator of the Opposition alliance and drive the joint strategy for the presidential election.

Yechury will be stepping into the shoes of his predecessor, the late Harkishan Singh Surjeet, who was the quintessential architect of grand secular alliances that kept the BJP out of power in 1996 and 2004.

Hectic parleys are on among Opposition leaders to put up a joint candidate in the evenly poised presidential election, where the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA is just about 18,000 votes short of a majority.

In percentage terms, the NDA needs just about 2% votes to get its candidate elected as the President of India.

President Pranab Mukherjee’s tenure comes to an end on July 25.

The NDA is yet to reveal its nominee, but names of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murumu are among the probables for the top post.

In the Opposition camp, former JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar are being seen as possible candidates.

Last week, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had met Sonia and asked her to take the lead in forging Opposition unity for the presidential election and beyond. Since her meeting with Nitish, Sonia has met Yechury, Pawar, Yadav and CPI leader D Raja. She has also spoken to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav over telephone, and he is expected to meet her in the capital.

Sonia had also met Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the just-concluded Budget Session of Parliament. All eyes would be on two parties – AIADMK and BJD – who have made common cause with the Modi government on a range of issues found to be contentious by other Opposition parties.