NEW DELHI: The word from the corridors of power appears to bring good news for Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. He is said to be the front-runner among NDA’s probable Vice Presidential candidates. An official announcement is awaited, though the buzz is that if nothing turns unprecedented within the BJP, Naqvi is almost sure to be the NDA candidate.
Speculation is that Naqvi’s candidature would leave the Opposition with no option but to support him. “Naqvi has always been showing his political maturity, impartially and uprightness throughout his tenure either as a Minister of Minority Affairs or as a deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha,” said a BJP leader.
After Naqvi, there is no Muslim minister at the Centre and the BJP does not have a Muslim MP among its nearly 400 Members of Parliament. In the recent Azamgarh and Rampur by Lok Sabha polls in UP, Naqvi played a vital role in ensuring the victory of BJP candidates.
But as they say, there’s many a slip between the cup and the lip. So, even as Naqvi’s name is ‘almost final’, three new names as probable candidates have cropped up: Suresh Prabhu, Hardeep Puri and SS Ahluwalia. The three are in addition to four others — Arif Arif Khan, Najma Heptullah, Capt Amrinder Singh and Anandiben Patel.