NEW DELHI: If seventy is the cut-off age for a Cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi government, whether the bar will apply to the next President is a grey area.
All the BJP leaders touted as hopefuls for Rashtrapati, bar Sushma Swaraj (65), are above 80.
Party wags said the age bar alone would disqualify the old warhorses reportedly in the race. LK Advani is 89 while his contemporary MM Joshi has crossed 83. Agricultural genius MS Swaminathan, the Shiv Sena favourite, is 91 plus. And Metro man E Sreedharan has crossed 85. All the 13 Indian Presidents so far were below 80 when they took oath.
The youngest was Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, who was 64 when he took over. The oldest President to take oath was R Venkataraman at 77 in July 1987.