From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday rang up Trinamul Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to speak to Biju Janata Dal chief and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik to rope him in for the presidential elections slated on July 18.
She also spoke of the need of a President, “who can protect the Constitution, our institutions and citizenry from the ongoing onslaught by the ruling party as this is the need of the hour.”
Making it clear in a statement that the Congress has not suggested a particular name, she said: “We owe it to our people to elect A pressident, who can apply a healing touch to its fractured social fabric and defend our Constitution.”
She was quite enthused from the Congress winning 4 seats in the Rajya Sabha biennial elections on Friday raising the party’s strength in the House from 29 to 33 as against the BJP’s strength dipping from 25 to 20,
The nominations begin with the notification on June 15 while the last date for filing the nominations proposed by a minimum of 50 electors and seconded by another minimum of 50 electors. Sonia is believed to have talked to Mamata to personally speak to Patnaik to ensure his BJD votes do not go with the BJP. She has also deputed a senior Congress leader to persuade YSR Congress party leader and Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy to secure his party’s vote.
The BJP-led NDA is 20,000 votes short and so if BJD and YSRCP do not side with it, Sonia is confident that the opposition candidate will become the President.
Since she is not well and hospitalised to the Gangaram Hospital here on Sunday because if the Covid complications, Sonia has deputed Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge to coordinate with the leaders of the opposition parties. She has already talked to Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar and some other opposition leaders, reaching out them on the Presidential election.
“The time is ripe to rise above our differences for the sake of our nation and its people. Discussions and deliberations have to be open minded and in keeping with this spirit. The INC, along with other political parties, should be taking this discussion forward,” Sonia said in a statement before hospitalisation.
