From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Congress has floated the idea of the opposition parties fielding a joint candidate for the election of the President of India to be held in July as the 5-year term of the present President Ram Nath Kovind is ending on July 24.
In the last election in 2017, it had fielded former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar who lost to Kovind.
Immediately after the Rajya Sabha biennial polls are over on Friday, the Congress plans to initiate a dialogue with all opposition parties on the election of the President as also that of the Vice-President that follows. The Election Commission has already slated nominations for the Vice-President from July 4 to 18 and the polling on August 5.
A top Congress source said their president Sonia Gandhi will first initiate talks with the allies of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and then contact other parties like Trinamul Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and thee Telangana Rashtra Samiti, who are opposed to backing any Congress candidate this time and planning to field own joint candidate.
Even if the Congress and these anti-Congress parties come together, it will be difficult to defeat the ruling BJP candidate since the Biju Janata Dal and the YSR Congress may vote for the BJP candidate, proving the poll mathematics against the Opposition.
The Congress leaders, however, hope that both BJD and YSR Congress may come with a united Opposition if a non-political candidate enters the fray, defeating the ruling BJP’s candidate.
