By IANS
New Delhi : Only two days to go for the vice presidential elections and there is still no fix on how many National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners are willing to vote for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Najma Heptullah.
Not too many if attendance at a meeting of NDA MPs at the parliament annexe called by Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani Wednesday to discuss the issue is any indication.
Giving the list of absentees, NDA spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said: “Atalji (NDA chairperson Atal Bihari Vajpayee) could not come because he was unwell. NDA convenor George Fernandes is away in Bihar because of floods there.”
Amongst the others who kept away were Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Trinamool Congress MPs because both said they did not get the information on time, explained Swaraj.
Apart from Advani, those who attended the meeting included Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal-United, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa of the Shiromani Akali Dal and Manohar Joshi of the Shiv Sena.
Asked if the presence of Joshi in the meeting implied that the Shiv Sena was now willing to vote for the BJP’s vice presidential candidate, Swaraj said noncommittally: “We hope Shiv Sena will vote for our candidate.”
Shiv Sena leader in the Lok Sabha Anantrao Geete told IANS over the phone: “Some discussion is on. We will be able to take some decision by Thursday afternoon.”
The Shiv Sena and Trinamool Congress did not vote for NDA candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the presidential election too.
Since Shekhawat’s defeat in the presidential polls, the BJP/NDA appears to be increasingly demoralised and seems to have lost its aggressive edge in the vice presidential elections.