Will decide on contest at right time, says Kalam

Despite Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s strong endorsement of his candidacy in the Presidential elections, APJ Abdul Kalam has neither accepted nor refused his participation in the race for Raisina Hills.

“Several political parties are in constant touch with me and want me to enter the fray for the presidential poll. I respect their views. However, I will take a right decision at the right time,” said Kalam at Bihta, some 40 km from here, where he had gone to attend the function of a private engineering college.

Besides being the most preferred choice of the Trinamool Congress, Kalam also enjoys support amongst the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

However, the “missile man” is well aware that the United Progressive Alliance could find support from different quarters to make up for the numbers they may be losing with Mamata’s exit and is therefore keeping the cards closer to his chest for the time being.

If  theTrinamool and the NDA were to support Kalam, he is likely to get around 3.5 lakh votes in an electoral college made of 10,98,882 votes, which makes the numbers precarious for him. Kalam then proceeded to have lunch with one of his greatest admirers, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.