By IANS
Chennai : Hours after Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat announced Monday his candidature for the presidential poll as an independent, a newly formed alliance of eight parties said it wanted President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to get another five-year term and sought all-party backing for the move.
Although Kalam had made it clear that he was not ready for a second tenure unless there is consensus amongst all political parties, the newly baptised United New Progressive Alliance (UNPA) said it would approach him with the request.
"There is no other candidate who has the stature of Kalam," announced AIADMK chief and former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalitha after a meeting of the so-called Third Front leaders at her residence here.
The meeting, also attended by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala and Telugu Desam Party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu among others, decided to call the new grouping UNPA.
"We will appeal to all political parties to support Kalam as there is no other leader who is respected by all sections of the society today," Jayalalitha said. She said UNPA leaders would call on Kalam soon to try and persuade him to stay put in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Jayalalitha said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) decision to field Pratibha Patil, the Rajasthan governor, as its presidential nominee was a "joke" on the nation played by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and that Patil was nowhere of the same "stature" as Kalam.
"Many people in the country, I am talking about the public perception, are not ready to take Pratibha Patil's candidature as seriously."
Jayalalitha said the front would appeal to all political parties to support the candidature of Kalam, whose term ends next month. A presidential election is scheduled for July 19.
Chautala, a former chief minister of Haryana, added: "I would like to appeal to everyone including the media to join hands to support Kalam because his presence is needed at this juncture for the country."
So far only Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India, has had two terms. All others have been president for only one term.