Salman says Sonia working for “maximum consensus”
Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid added another twist in the tail in the presidential poll race today saying, the candidate will be an outstanding person around whom “maximum consensus would be built.”
This was first time senior Congress minister went public saying, “the party is trying to build a maximum consensus for the presidential poll.”
Only yesterday Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi had clarified that the party had “yet to finalise any names” for the post of the President. This was only to set at rest growing speculations in the media that Pranab Mukherjee’s name had almost been finalized and efforts for a consensus are merely an eye-wash.
With Khurshid adding a twist propounding “maximum consensus” theory seems to have opened a new dimension.
Sources in the ruling UPA say that Pranab Mukherjee is not the only one around whom maximum consensus can be built. In fact more than Pranab Mukherjee, it is Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar around whom maximum consensus can be built. In fact, Meira Kumar is capable of breaking the NDA in her favour. Meira Kumar is not only capable of securing the support of the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Left and even the SP, but also of the Janata Dal (U). She belongs to Bihar and a Dalit. Therefore, the UPA would be rather too happy to break the NDA on Meira Kumar’s name. TMC leader Mamata bannerjee has openly advocated her name for the president’s post and virtually gave no credence to Mukherjee when pointedly asked about it sometime ago.
More than Pranab Mukherjee, his son Abhijit, an MLA in West Bengal gave a clue to the real problem when he said yesterday in Kolkata, “I don’t think Baba (Pranab Mukherjee) would be nominated for the key post (of President) because it needs a consensus of the allies in the UPA.”
It is well known that Mamata banerjee doesn’t have any soft corner for Pranab Mukherjee. She had said that she did not consider Mukherjee to be enough of a “son of the soil”. She always believed that he was an agent of the Left in the Congress and weakened the TMC wherever possible.
Therefore, It is for Pranab Mukherjee to convince Mamata Banerjee. Mukherjee’s visit to Kolkata yesterday, ostensibly to inaugurate a bank branch was actually make a final effort at soothing her hurt feelings and last ditch effort to win her over. How far Mukherjee will succeed in his efforts will be known only in a couple of days.
Meira Kumar, on the contrary, has maintained a complete silence on the issue and did not offer any comments. But she continues to be the front-runner. It was because of the JD(U)’s instance that BJP has to maintain a silence on the issue as well.
