NEW DELHI: With the Election Commission on Thursday setting the ball rolling for Presidential elections on July 18, crystal gazing has begun within the ruling NDA on the likely successor to President Ram Nath Kovind, whose tenure ends on July 24.
There is speculation within the corridors of power that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would pick a tribal or a Muslim candidate for the highest office of the land. The names doing the rounds include former governor Draupadi Murmu (Jharkhand), serving governors Arif Mohammed Khan (Kerala), Anandiben Patel (UP), Anusuiya Uikey (Chhattisgarh), Thawar Chand Gehlot (Karnataka) and defence minister Rajnath Singh. Murmu is said to be leading the race because she belongs to a tribal community and was the first governor in Jharkhand to complete a five-year term.
She has good equations with not just Modi and the RSS but also with NDA allies. Murmu belongs to a Santal tribe in Odisha. “As the BJP has started increasing its outreach to the tribal voters ahead of the polls in six states and the next LS elections, the possibility of a tribal candidate can’t be ruled out,” a senior BJP leader said. The other candidate in the race is Arif Mohammad Khan, specially in the wake of the diplomatic blowback from the Muslim world against the recent hate speech by a couple of BJP functionaries. “Both the names carry much political and electoral significance for the BJP.
Murmu coul become India’s first tribal woman President, if Arif Khan is considered for the post of vice president,” said a BJP source. Another name in the reckoning is Ansuiya Uikey, from pollbound Madhya Pradesh. She belongs to a scheduled tribe. Though Anandiben Patel’s name is also in circulation, her chances are very slim as she hails from Gujarat.
“How can both the PM and the President belong to the same state? This has a very little chance of her making it,” a former party MP remarked. As for Thawar Chand Gehlot, he is a prominent Dalit face of the BJP. Rajnath Singh is a Rajput from UP.