JOIN USAs if the cross-voting by 14 BJP MLAs was not enough, the party’s senior leader B S Yeddyurappa said in the Legislative Assembly on Monday that Pranab Mukherjee should have been the unanimous candidate for the President’s post and P A Sangma should not move the court challenging the presidential poll results.
Sangma, the defeated candidate backed by the BJP, had said that there was a compelling need for formulating a poll code for the presidential and vice presidential polls. The process in this presidential election was exceptionally partisan and political, he had said, while not ruling out approaching court.
Yeddyurappa, while congratulating Mukherjee on getting elected to the coveted post, said he would write to Sangma requesting him to not undertake a misadventure by approaching the court. India was fortunate to have Mukherjee as the President and he was a rare personality like three former presidents - Babu Rajendra Prasad, S Radhakrishnan and Abdul Kalam, he said.
“On the one hand, Sangma has congratulated Mukherjee, while on the other, he has said he will approach the court. This does not augur well for India. The whole world is looking towards India because a new President has been elected.”
Yeddyurappa said Mukherjee had secured 69 per cent of the total votes polled. “We are happy that he is elected. All parties should have decided not to field a candidate against Mukherjee. Due to differences and lack of foresight, a candidate was fielded against Mukherjee,” he said, taking the Opposition Congress by surprise.
Invitation to Pranab
Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar accepted a suggestion by one of the members and said Mukherjee would be invited to inaugurate the new Suvarna Soudha in Belgaum, either in August or September.
“We will try to get him for the inauguration,” he said, while praising the President-elect as a man of immense knowledge and vision.
Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah took a dig at the ruling party and said the BJP had to be “congratulated” for “supporting” the UPA nominee.
In the Council, JD(S) leader M C Nanaiah said the BJP should not hold an internal inquiry to find the cross-voters as some BJP MLAs had voted for Mukherjee, as he was a good candidate. Both the Houses passed a resolution congratulating Mukherjee.