JOIN USJoint prez nominee if no consensus: Oppn
A united Opposition on Friday decided to field a joint candidate for the presidential election if it does not reach a consensus on the nominee proposed by the government.
The decision was taken at a luncheon meeting hosted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, which brought arch-rivals Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Left parties and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to the same table.
The unity among the Opposition forces, which its leaders claimed will continue for the next Lok Sabha elections, came on a day when the government marked its third year in office.
Leaders from 17 political parties joined the high table with Sonia. A prominent absentee was Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday at the banquet hosted in honour of visiting Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth.
A JD(U) spokesperson scotched suggestions of a break in the Opposition unity, pointing out that the party was represented by veteran leader Sharad Yadav, and that Nitish Kumar had conveyed to the Congress president his inability to attend the meeting.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and Sudhakar Reddy, and NCP chief Sharad Pawar were among those who attended the luncheon.
The joint statement read out by senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sharad Yadav stated, “The normal practice has been that the ruling party takes the initiative to build a consensus on the names of the candidates... This has not happened so far. If acceptable, consensual candidates do not emerge, then we (Opposition) shall decide to field such persons who shall steadfastly defend the constitutional values of our Republic.”
West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said there was no harm in discussing a candidate with the government if it comes out with a name.
Mamata referred to the 2002 presidential election when the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee floated A P J Abdul Kalam’s name and a consensus was evolved.
She said all the parties were united in its criticism of the government over the Kashmir crisis, Saharanpur violence and demonetisation issue.
The joint statement also said that the Opposition parties resolved to strengthen floor coordination in Parliament and “unitedly oppose the government’s policies that are imposing unprecedented burden on all sections of our people — farmers, labourers, youth, SCs, STs, minorities, women and other weaker sections of society”.