NDA may support Shekhawat as an Independent

New Delhi, June 6: Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today indicated that the NDA may support Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat if he runs for the Presidency as an independent. ''If at all he (Bhairon Singh Shekhawat) decides to contest, he cannot be an NDA candidate and he too would not like to be one. However, the NDA will pledge support to him if the alliance decides that Shekhawatji should be the next President,'' she told a news channel.

''However, no such decision has been taken as yet,'' she added.

Ms Swaraj, party's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, broadly hinted in an interview to a channel that Mr Shekhawat may not be the official NDA candidate for the race to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In a related development, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar without contradicting Ms Swaraj said as far as the BJP and the NDA is concerned, the final decision has been left to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. ''He will announce his decision to the NDA and that will be final.'' Mr Shekhawat was contemplating to contest as an independent in the wake of reports that five non-NDA parties -- Samajwadi Party, Telugu Desam, AIADMK, Asom Gana Parishad and Indian National Lok Dal may back him if he were to contest as an Independent.

The 'Independent' tag for the octogenarian Vice-President associated with saffron politics for over five decades would help these parties to shed their inhibitions and extend support on the anti-Congressism plank.

Personal equations and compulsions of state politics in Uttar Pradesh will not allow both Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati to come on the same side. Since there can be no whip for Presidential elections, the Vice-President is expected to swing the votes of many of his personal friends by joining the race as an Independent.

Ms Swaraj admitted that the NDA lacked the numbers but Mr Shekhawat as a Independent was a different proposition altogether. ''Many others will come out in his support,'' she claimed. She said the lack of numbers was the reason Mr Vajpayee was authorised to explore with parties from whom support can be solicited.

To a question if the BJP had got any call from Telugu Desam leader Chandrababu Naidu on the issue, she said only NDA can give a satisfactory reply to such queries.

UNI