Congress-led opposition to contest elections for President, Vice President

Congress on Wednesday made it clear that the elections for President and Vice President will be through contest and not consensus irrespective of the numbers, signaling the shaping of an anti-BJP coalition.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi is expected to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, BSP supremo Mayawati and DMK leader M K Stalin over the next 10 days as part of efforts to build a consensus on the opposition candidate for the post of President and Vice President. National Conference President Omar Abdullah met Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday.

"Efforts are on to reach a consensus on the post of the President and Vice President," Randeep Singh Surjewala, in-charge of the AICC Communications Department told reporters here.

The Congress chief has already held discussions with CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, CPI leader D Raja and IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty. Besides, she has also spoken to former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

Rahul Gandhi has had separate meetings with Pawar and Yechury and held telephonic talks with SP President Akhilesh Yadav and Nitish Kumar on the need to jointly counter the BJP that is aggressively expanding its footprint in newer areas.

Though a few names of probable presidential nominees have been discussed, a senior Congress leader refused to share the same contending that the consultation process was still on and it would be premature to reveal it at this stage.

“We have an open mind. Why should we rule out any name,” the leader said to questions whether President Pranab Mukherjee or vice president Hamid Ansari could be the candidate of the opposition.

The 2017 presidential election could become a closely fought affair as the BJP-led NDA is approximately 18,000 votes short of majority, which in percentage terms is just about 2%. But, for the election to become even tighter, all opposition parties need to stick together to ensure the victory of their candidate.

The Congress plans to reach out to other regional parties such as the BJD, YSRCP, TRS and even sulking BJP allies, as the broad grouping of opposition parties reaches consensus on presidential and vice presidential nominees.

“All non-BJP parties are welcome,” the Congress leader said adding that opposition unity was necessary to counter the autocratic ideology propagated by the BJP-RSS combine.

“The Opposition realises there was a limitation of numbers, but this dictum of one man decides all and one ideology thrust upon all needed to be challenged in the larger interest of the country,” the leader said.