Eventually, the Congress leadership began talking to various parties about the presidential election. Despite the chance of providing candidate from the opposition for the presidential election, the Congress leadership has not been keen to take the initiative for so long predicting their loss. But the presidential election is within a month. Realizing that the BJP cannot be allowed to score goals in an empty field, this time the Congress leaders have started talks with the anti-BJP regional parties.
According to sources, if there is a consensus on nominating a leader from outside the Congress, then Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will definitely agree to it. Otherwise, a senior leader of the party itself will be offered to run for the presidency. The Trinamool Congress has already voted for a candidate from outside the Congress. The Congress is taking a soft stance on this issue at the moment. According to the Congress, if a person acceptable to all agrees to be a candidate, then the Congress will also accept him.
The new president will be elected by July 24. Shiv Sena has been proposing Sharad Pawar’s name for a long time. The Trinamool has no objection to Sharad Pawar’s name too. The question is, will Sharad Pawar himself agree or not? The Congress leadership thinks that Pawar will not agree to be a candidate unless he is sure of his victory. In the presidential election, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha MPs, all state legislators vote. In the Lok Sabha, the number of Rajya Sabha MPs and the equation that has emerged after the BJP’s resurgence in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur, the Congress High Command feels that it is somehow difficult for a Congress or opposition candidate to win the presidential election. Only if parties like the Biju Janata Dal, the YSR Congress, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, could fight if they sided with the opposition alliance, including the Congress.
In the last one week, Biju Janata Dal leader, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, YSR Congress chief and Andhra Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy have been in Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Seeing this, the Congress leaders think that both these parties will support the BJP candidate. However, the idea of some regional team leaders is that the game could turn around if Pawar steps down on the field.
If Pawar or any such personality does not agree, the Congress High Command will propose the name of a senior leader of the party. According to Congress sources, in this case, names of leaders of the disgruntled leaders may be thought of from the G-23 group. Even if he is a candidate in the presidential election, his name will be proposed knowing that he will lose. One of the AICC leaders remarked, “In that case, the snake will die and the stick will not break too.”
776 MPs from Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and 4,120 MLAs from State and Union Territories will cast their votes. The value of votes per capita depends on the number of MPs or MLAs in the state and the population of 1971.