Prez elections: NDA divided over right candidate

New Delhi: Differences surfaced in the NDA camp over President’s election with JD (U) disapproving BJP’s unilateral decision on the issue as Left parties and RJD backed Vice President Hamid Ansari for the post. Stunned by JD(U)’s sharp reaction, the BJP sought to do some damage control explaining that Sushma Swaraj’s announcement yesterday that her party will not back any Congress candidate, including Pranab Mukherjee, and Ansari was made from the BJP platform and not NDA. [caption id=“attachment_294577” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“PTI”]  [/caption] JD(U) leader and NDA conveneor Sharad Yadav said, “Whatever Sushma Swaraj has said is the opinion of the BJP. This is not our party’s view. The issue was not discussed in any NDA meeting. BJP has not discussed the issue with us.” He also said that the country is in a bad shape and “everybody needs to be on the side of caution on this issue”. Asked whether JD-U agrees with Swaraj’s stand, Yadav merely said, “Ours is a different party and their’s is another. Neither have we discussed this issue with the BJP nor have they done it with us so far.” Yadav also referred to the statement of SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal to hammer home his point that the issue has not been decided by NDA as yet. Badal said that there has been “no formal meeting” of the alliance so far and hence he cannot comment that who will be NDA’s Presidential candidate. Yadav said the NDA has not not discussed the issue of Presidential candidate and whether to support or to put up the name of former President Abdul Kalam as the alliance candidate this time, thereby indicating that Swaraj’s view on the subject is merely that of BJP. The BJP today fielded two of its spokespersons to field questions from the media on the differences within NDA over Swaraj’s remarks. Shah Nawaz Hussain, a BJP MP who was with Swaraj when she spoke to reporters yesterday, said that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha had made the point that there would be no no deal with Congress on the Presidential election. “Whatever we do, we will do it along with the Opposition. First discussion in BJP, then in NDA and with the larger Opposition,” he quoted Swaraj as saying. Hussain said replying to a question that Swaraj had said that people of Kalam’s  stature, who was earlier proposed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, would have BJP’s backing. He also claimed that Swaraj made no reference to Ansari’s political stature and that everything now was premature. PTI