With UP in Maya's grip, search for new President may take new turn

New Delhi, May 11 (UNI) The exercise for finding the next occupant of Rashtrapati Bhawan has taken a new turn with the results of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election giving more than a clear majority to the Bahujan Samaj party, stunning political observers.

Incumbent Dr APJ Abdul Kalam completes his term in July, and all eyes are now on who is going to succeed him.

Before opening their cards regarding the candidate for the presidential poll, all political parties were waiting for the UP results as its Assembly has the largest number of MLAs and sends the largest number of MPs, all of whom form the electoral college to elect President.

With the complexion of the Assembly now clear, a rethinking on the presidential candidates was on.

Most of the parties would be meeting in a day or two to deliberate on the matter.

Earlier several names of possible Congress candidates, including those of Dr Karan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and Sushil Kumar Shinde, were doing the rounds, and the party which was sure that the BSP would need its support to form government, was hoping to bargain with it, but now with no takers for its support, the Congress may have to revise its priorities regarding the presidential candidate.

BSP might be more interested in a dalit candidate to occupy the country's top post.

The left, though interested in the candidature of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, may have to finally go with a candidate enjoying support of the Congress if Mr Chatterjee does not manage enough numbers.

However, Samajwadi Party, which had emerged as the second largest party in the 403 Member UP Assembly, had already made it clear that it would not support a Congress cadidate, but it was unlikely to support a BJP candidate either.

But it had expressed its willingness to support Somnath Chatterjee. The veteran CPI(M) leader would have to get the support of the UPA and also non-UPA parties to get through.

If there is no consensus on him, chances of a non-political or a dalit candidate were bright.

While a cross section of the country's population in various surveys conducted favoured a second term for Dr Kalam, major parties like the Congress and the BJP and also the Left seemed to be averse to his candidature for a second term, though the BJP would remain non-committal over the issue.

According to political observers the BJP might more likely want to see Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the top office, but facing a number crunch the party may not have its way.

It may, however, be pointed out that Mr Shekhawat in his bid for Vice Presidentship, had drawn support from those outside the NDA too. In 2002, Mr Shekhawat won the vice-presidential election by a margin of 149 votes, which means that he got 74 extra votes, as the NDA had a margin of only 75 votes then.

UNI