BJP to begin talks for consensus on candidate for Presidential polls

Three days before nomination starts for the July 18 Presidential polls, BJP on Sunday authorised party chief J P Nadda and Union Minister Rajnath Singh to hold discussions with different parties in a bid to forge a consensus.

"Keeping in mind the upcoming Presidential polls, the BJP has authorised party's national President J P Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for holding deliberations. They will hold deliberations with other political parties and independents as well besides with the allies of the NDA and the UPA," the party said in a statement on Monday.

Though the saffron party is comfortably placed to get its Presidential nominee elected, it has decided to reach out not only to NDA allies but also other parties to ramp up support for election for the top Constitutional post.

The move is significant as parties like YSRCP and BJD are yet to clear their stand while NDA ally JD(U) has a record of voting against the alliance candidate.

The 2017 Presidential polls had seen a contest with the Opposition accusing the BJP of not attempting to forge a unanimity on the choice of Presidential candidate. This time, the BJP is in a clear position to get its nominee elected, but would like to meet Opposition leaders on the issue before announcing a name.

In the run-up to the 2017 Presidential polls, Rajnath Singh and then-Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and asked her to suggest a name. After a half an hour long meeting between them, the Congress had given the plea on how they can vouch for support before any name was given. Late Arun Jaitley was also part of the three-member panel from the BJP to hold consultations with the Opposition leaders.

Naidu had then held interaction with several other Opposition leaders as well but finally it was a contest between NDA's Ram Nath Kovind and Opposition's Meira Kumar. Nitish Kumar's JD(U), which was then party of the Opposition grand alliance in Bihar, had broken ranks from Congress and RJD on the issue and supported the candidature of NDA candidate Kovind. In a similar manner, Kumar had in the 2012 Presidential election supported UPA's candidate Pranab Mukherjee even when he was leading an NDA government in Bihar. The souring relations between Nitish and BJP in May led to some tongue wagging but several senior leaders met the Bihar Chief Minister last month.

Names of a number of politicians and constitutional heads are doing the rounds from both sides but the BJP top brass is known for picking up a surprise name in the end. There are indications that they will pick up a name this time, which the Opposition may have discomfort in opposing.

This time also, there are clear indications that the Opposition will put up a separate candidate but BJP is hopeful of getting the support of a number of Opposition parties like BJD and YSR Congress, which had helped it in Parliament during the passage of crucial legislations by either backing them or abstaining from vote. The two parties had supported Kovind's candidacy in 2017.

While there is hardly any doubt about the victory of NDA's Presidential nominee in the eventuality of a contest, the contours of the election will give an indication of the emerging political equation of Congress vis a vis the rest of Opposition before the 2024 general elections. In the last Presidential elections cross-voting had also happened in many states with several Opposition members having voted in favour of Kovind.

With Congress' strength depleting and regional parties having emerged the main challenger of BJP in a number of key states, the choice of Opposition's Presidential nominee will be a test case of the Opposition unity and will also show who calls the shots in the Opposition spectrum.

Pawar Point

There is a buzz of the Opposition parties rallying around NCP boss Sharad Pawar's candidature. On Sunday AAP MP Sanjay Singh met Pawar in Mumbai to discuss Presidential polls. Pawar had headed the search committee of Opposition parties to pick a Presidential nominee in 2017. So far Pawar has been dismissive of talk about his candidature.

Key dates and details of election

Nomination starts June 15 and concludes on June 29

Voting day - July 18

Counting of votes - July 21

Electoral college - 776 elected MPs and 4,033 MLAs

Total vote value - 10,86,431

BJP - 5.39 lakh votes

Non-NDA - 4.47 lakh votes

YSR Congress and BJD - 75,136 votes