The Hindu : NDA `plumps' for Alexander

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 09, 2002

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NDA `plumps' for Alexander

By Harish Khare

New Delhi June 8. The ruling establishment is understood to have decided to field the Governor of Maharashtra, P.C. Alexander, as its candidate in the next month's Presidential election. Barring any last-minute dramatic change, an announcement to this effect would be made tomorrow after a formal endorsement of Mr. Alexander's name by the ruling National Democratic Alliance. The alliance meeting was, in fact, scheduled for this evening but it now stands postponed to tomorrow as a number of NDA partners are out of town.

Efforts are also on to persuade the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu to be in the capital when Mr. Alexander's name is announced. Mr. Naidu had only two days ago ``authorised'' the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to decide on the Presidential candidate, though he had indicated his preference for the Vice-President, Krishan Kant.

Indications till now were that Krishan Kant was the front-runner as the most acceptable ``consensus'' candidate. An election now seems inevitable, as the Opposition parties, by and large, remain unexcited about the Maharashtra Governor as the next occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Both the Congress and the People's Front have expressed their sense of unhappiness that the ruling combine has gone back on its promise of exploring the possibility of a consensus, and have threatened a ``contest'' if the NDA makes a unilateral decision.

The decision to go in for Alexander was taken at a meeting of the NDA bosses at the Prime Minister's residence this morning. Besides Mr. Vajpayee, those present were the Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, the NDA convener, George Fernandes, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pramod Mahajan, and the BJP president, Jana Krishnamoorthy. The decision is seen as a setback to Mr. Vajpayee, who was reported to be keen on avoiding a contest.

Before the confabulation at the Prime Minister's residence, an emissary of Mr. Vajpayee is believed to have conveyed to a representative of the Congress leadership that Mr. Kant was acceptable to the ruling combine. Three hours later, the Prime Minister's emissary called back, with an apology, that the final decision had gone against Mr. Kant. It is the first time in four years that Mr. Vajpayee's ``consensus strategy'' has been spurned by his own senior colleagues.

In fact, it is believed that the decision in favour of Mr. Alexander was insisted upon by the BJP hard-liners. The argument is that if the NDA has the numbers to win the Presidential poll, why should it shy away from a contest. It is further argued that just to meet the hyped expectations of a ``consensus'', why should the NDA settle for a ''neutral'' candidate.

The younger leaders such as Mr. Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, and Ananth Kumar, among others, are reported to have impressed upon the party leadership that the BJP should have its man — if it was in position to do so — in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

As soon as the Prime Minister's emissary conveyed to the Congress representative the latest decision, the party leadership summoned for consultations members of the Congress Working Committee available in the capital. The mood reportedly was one of anger that the ruling party had gone back on its commitment to seek a consensus. Among those who put in an appearance at short notice were Manmohan Singh, Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel, Natwar Singh and Jaipal Reddy.

The Congress faults the Alexander choice on several counts: first, it violates the convention that the Vice-President gets elevated; second, no Governor has made it straight to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, without doing a stint as Vice-President; and, three, it is seen, unofficially, as the BJP's attempt to spike Sonia Gandhi's chances of becoming the Prime Minister (on the plea that if there is a Christian in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, another Christian could not become the Prime Minister). The ploy is seen as an unacceptable and mischievous attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Congress.

Since there was no formal announcement from the NDA quarters, the Opposition reaction was rather muted. But both the Congress and the People's Front — separately through their spokespersons, Jaipal Reddy, Sitaram Yechury, and Amar Singh — announced that ``secular parties'' would unite and fight this battle together. Mr. Yechury and Mr. Singh added: ``We have our differences with the Congress but if the Government believes it can take advantage of these differences, it is living in a fool's paradise. We will all join hands and go to any length to defeat this challenge.''

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