The Hindu : Naidu favours Krishan Kant?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 07, 2002

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Naidu favours Krishan Kant?

By Our Special Correspondent

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, at the latter's residence in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI JUNE 6. The move for a consensus on the next President is gathering momentum. Today, it was the turn of the TDP to join the chorus, with its supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, expressing the view that efforts should be focused on evolving a consensus. ``There should not be any controversy for the highest constitutional post,'' he said.

Mr. Naidu was here on a day's visit, the highlight of which was a luncheon meeting with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Home Minister, L.K. Advani, at the latter's residence. Earlier in the day, Mr. Naidu met Mr. Vajpayee at his residence where Mr. Advani and Pramod Mahajan were also present.

Emerging from the meeting with Mr. Vajpayee, Mr. Naidu told newspersons that though he favoured a consensus, he had left the issue of the next President to Mr. Vajpayee and his party would abide by any decision that was taken.

He was confident that the Prime Minister would do whatever was in the interest of the nation. Though Mr. Naidu did not name anyone, it is reliably learnt that the names of the Maharashtra Governor, P.C. Alexander, and the Vice-President, Krishan Kant, were discussed.

Mr. Naidu is believed to have reiterated his preference for Mr. Kant and suggested that the Opposition parties may also have no objection in accepting him as President. Both the leaders are learnt to have discussed ``in passing'' the question of finding a successor for Mr. Kant in the event of his being elevated to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Cong. waiting for Narayanan's response

The Congress' official position was that having made the offer of support to Mr. Narayanan, it would like to wait for his response before deciding its next course of action. ``We will abide by whatever decision he takes,'' the party spokesperson, Anand Sharma, said.

But privately, senior party leaders indicated that it would not be averse to working out a consensus. Ideally, the Congress would have preferred to maintain the status quo, with both Mr. Narayanan and Mr. Kant sticking to their stance.

However, with the NDA determined not to give the Mr. Narayanan a second term, the Congress has now begun to come round to the view that there is a greater percentage supporting Mr. Kant. ``We have always favoured the idea of a consensus,'' said Mr. Sharma.

Senior Congress leaders say that if the Government is falling back on precedent to oppose a second term to Mr. Narayanan, then it should also respect the precedent of promoting the Vice-President.

Mr. Sharma said his party expected another meeting in the near future between Mr. Vajpayee and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi.

At its meeting yesterday, the People's Front emphasised the need for a consensus. Its leaders insist that their priority is to prevent the BJP from succeeding in installing any of its sympathisers or activists in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

``We must come up with a name which can command the support of the majority of the parties,'' the CPI(M) general secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, said.

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