National

BJP plumps for Alexander, contest or no contest

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI MAY 14. The Government is confident that with or without the support of the Telugu Desam Party, it is in a comfortable position to get its nominee elected as President, and it is determined to do just that, contest or no contest.

Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party today claimed that "as of now,'' the National Democratic Alliance had "only one name'' in mind — P.C. Alexander — and that "at this juncture'' it was considered appropriate that the highest office should go to a person belonging to the minority community. It was also felt that if the Congress could not support Dr. Alexander, who had been close to the party, how would it ever agree to any other name proposed by the Government? There was no move to propose the name of the former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, or anyone closely associated with the BJP, a senior leader in the Government said. Effort was being made to carry all the allies with it and convince supporting parties such as the TDP that the BJP was not looking at the election as a mere party matter.

The BJP leaders recalled that when K. R. Narayanan — supported by the Congress and the United Front — was the nominee for the President's office, the BJP, as the main Opposition party, had not been extended the courtesy of even a cursory consultation. After his candidature was formally announced, the BJP had, on its own, approached Mr. Narayanan with a nomination form proposing his name and he was "gracious enough'' to sign it.

The message from the BJP and the Government was that if the Opposition parties agreed with the NDA's proposal they would be very happy, but if they did not, the Government would certainly not shy away from a contest even if the "other candidate'' happened to be the sitting President.

Another point — not stressed by the BJP but pointed out by some — was that the first President, Rajendra Prasad, was the only person who had a second term in office. Since then, the Congress, which was the ruling party, had been discouraging this, and now, 52 years since the Republic came into existence, it would not be right to upset this established convention.

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