Don't drag Kalam into speculation: Congress

New Delhi, June 20: The Congress Party today charged the "Third Front" and the BJP-led Opposition NDA with bringing the name of the high office of the President into "unncessary speculation" and said it would not be part of any attempt to drag present incumbent A P J Abdul Kalam into controversy.

"It is quite unfortunate that such a successful and popular President (Dr Kalam) has been made an object of speculation and controversy," AICC spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told mediapersons.

Referring to the decision of the "Third Front" or United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) of eight political parties to support the candidature of Dr Kalam for a second term in Rashtrapati Bhavan, she said "had there been any serious intention on their part to propose his candidature, they should have done so at the ouset and well before positions have been taken by the UPA and the NDA and candidates announced." In the present context, especially in terms of a clear majority for UPA's candidate Pratibha Patil due to committed votes, the announcement by the Third Front was nothing but a ''ploy to create confusion,''she said, adding that some of the constituents of the UNPA had even expressed their willingness to suport the independent candidate put up by the NDA, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

Accusing the NDA of being a divided house on the issue of the Presidential poll, Ms Natarajan said "the NDA, as always, provides a picture of confusion and disunity. Even the members of the NDA were unclear as to who their candidate was after declaring the candidature of Vice President Shekhawat." She said the BJP President Rajnath Singh had now declared support for Dr Kalam if he emerged as a consensus candidate, despite the fact that former Prime MInister A B Vajpayee met Dr Kalam a month ago and expressed his inability to support him for a second term due to lack of a consensus.

In this context, Ms Natarajan said when the Congress sought the support of the BJP-led NDA for a second term to Mr K R Narayanan, who is not only a distinguished person but also a Dalit, the proposal was rejected outright.

The NDA, then in power, had said that there was a convention that no serving president was given a second term.

Ms Natarajan said when the NDA sought consensus in favour of Dr Kalam in 2002, the Congress Party, then in Opposition, readily agreed to the plea and cooperated. But when a similar request was made by the Congress in favour of UPA candidate Pratibha Patil, it was not acceptable to them. "From this, it is very clear that the only consensus that is okay with the BJP is a consensus on its terms." Ms Natarajan said the BJP was now talking about consensus because it wanted to create confusion. "In fact, the BJP's request for consensus now is not borne out of a genuine interest for consensus." Asked why was it that Dr Kalam was not acceptable to the UPA, she said "We have our own candidate. The UPA had declared Ms Pratibha Patil as its candidate as it decided to work for the first woman President in the 60th year of India's independence." She said the Congress Party had high regard for Dr Kalam.

Asked why AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa did not accompany the delegation that met Dr Kalam today to request him to seek a second term, Ms Natarajan said " Whether Ms Jayalalithaa attended the meeting or not, the Third Front" is already divided due to its own internal contradictions."

UNI