The Hindu : Only two winners

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 15, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Only two winners

Sir, — Selecting the candidate for Head of State should have been done in a more honourable and dignified manner. Informing the President, K.R. Narayanan, that he was not their candidate as there was no consensus in his favour among the NDA and that too even before the election schedule had been announced and telling the media about it, was bad enough. Was the Prime Minister authorised only to find a consensus among the NDA? Wider consultations would have helped to avoid the unpleasant developments that followed. The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, should have informed Mr. Narayanan that he was their candidate only after making sure the Congress could muster enough support. The absence of good political managers in the party to get enough backing for its nominee was evident throughout. In the whole process the People's Front, successor to the Third Front, which claimed that it would provide an alternative, stands exposed. Who is the winner in all these? Not Dr. Kalam, not the BJP or the NDA but Chandrababu Naidu and the SP leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav.

It is time parties which promise an alternative to the BJP and stand for secularism, realised that polarisation of secular forces is possible only based on ideologies and programmes, not opportunism and eagerness to share power.

V.K. Madhavan Kutty,

New Delhi

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