Presidential polls: Shah forms three-member committee for consensus candidate
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday finally set in motion the exercise to identify the next President of the country by constituting a panel of three senior ministers to explore the possibility of a consensus. The BJP’s panel of Ministers – Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitely and M Venkaiah Naidu – has been given the mandate by the party chief Amit Shah to talk to other political parties even while the Opposition has also formed a group for similar endeavour.
The BJP issued a brief statement on the constitution of the panel on the return of Shah from his Chattisgarh visit, stating that the ministers would talk to other political parties about the July 17 Presidential election. Incidentally, sources said, the BJP panel has no name given as possible nominee to talk about with the Opposition parties. While Singh is likely to reach out to the political outfit of the Hindi heartland, Naidu will be focussing on parties in the southern parts of the country. Jaitely is likely to hold talks with the Congress leaders, besides reaching out to the Trinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal (BJD). While the BJP has entered into adversarial relations with the TMC and BJD, Jaitely apparently enjoys good rapport with the West Bengal and Odisa chief ministers Mamata Banerjee and Navin Patnaik respectively.
A senior BJP leader, while stating that none is aware about the possible names before the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party chief, said that “none of the panel member is contender” in the July 17 race.
Incidentally, the 17-party Opposition has also formed a nine members strong panel for the Presidential election with mandate including identification of a nominee. The panel consists of the Congress leaders in both the Houses of Parliament – Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjuna Kharge, besides senior JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav and others.