By IANS
New Delhi : Hectic parleys took place Monday for evolving a consensus on India's next president as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi met Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad. Later, Gandhi had dinner with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
What has come as good news for the Congress is the decision of the RJD that it would support the candidate proposed by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Lalu Prasad's birthday celebrations at his residence at 27, Tughlaq Road provided an opportunity for UPA constituents to discuss their options. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was among those who attended the birthday party.
The dinner meet between Gandhi and Mayawati late Monday assumes significance since the latter's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) holds the key to who occupies Rashtrapati Bhavan: the party has 53,800 votes of the total 10,98,882 votes that comprises the electoral college.
The UPA candidate can easily get over 570,000 votes – the required number to win the election – provided the BSP and the Left parties (110,988 votes) chip in.
Prior to these meetings, the prime minister and the Congress president along with senior party leaders Ahmed Patel and Defence Minister A.K. Antony held discussions over the possible presidential candidate, with Home Minister Shivraj Patil being the frontrunner for the post.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has been consulting allies along with Antony and Patel.
The prime minister had said that the opposition should agree to the Congress choice this time just as the party had supported National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for president in 2002.
With the Election Commission expected to notify the presidential election this week, the UPA is keen that a consensus is arrived at before the election process begins.
The Congress Working Committee, the apex decision-making body of the ruling party, has authorized Gandhi to nominate the candidate to succeed President Kalam who retires next month.
She is believed to have picked Patil, a staunch Gandhi family loyalist, as the preferred candidate. But the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left parties, which extend crucial support to the government, have reservations on him, and has questioned his secular credentials.
According to Communist Party of India (CPI) national secretary D. Raja, leaders of the four Left parties would meet Tuesday or Wednesday to take a final decision on the issue.
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled out the possibility of supporting the UPA candidate for the top post despite appeals from Manmohan Singh, is intensifying efforts to consolidate the anti-Congress votes in favour of vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
They are sounding out the newly formed 'third front' of eight parties that includes the Samajwadi Party and AIADMK.
BJP leaders say that since Shekhawat has good equations with AIADMK chief and former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalitha, he could win their backing.
The electoral college is made up of MPs and legislators from across the country. The value of a legislator's vote is decided on the basis of the state's population while an MP's vote value is 708.
In the current scenario, the NDA commands 354,689 votes and the 'third front' claims 106,281 votes.