The Hindu : Kalam calls on PM, Sonia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

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Kalam calls on PM, Sonia

By Our New Delhi Bureau

The NDA's Presidential candidate, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, calling on the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, in New Delhi on Monday. — Photo: V. Sudershan

NEW DELHI JUNE 17. The stage is set for A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the presidential candidate of the ruling National Democratic Alliance and almost all the Opposition parties barring the Left, to file his nomination papers in the Parliament House tomorrow.

Today, after Dr. Kalam arrived here — he was escorted by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pramod Mahajan, who had gone to Chennai to accompany him here, and greeted by several Ministers on arrival at the airport — he had a number of engagements, including a lunch hosted for him by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and a call on the President, K.R. Narayanan. During the day he also had separate meetings with the Leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi, the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, and the Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was the first to suggest his name for the top post, and who even today appealed to his "friends'' in the Left to desist from opposing Dr. Kalam.Perhaps to emphasise that Dr. Kalam was a candidate of not only the ruling NDA but also the main Opposition party, Mr. Vajpayee invited the Congress president and Manmohan Singh to the lunch he hosted for Dr. Kalam — Dr. Singh attended but Ms. Gandhi could not as she was occupied elsewhere.

The Left parties' Presidential candidate, Lakshmi Sahgal, with the CPI(M) general secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday. — PTI

It seems that separate sets of nomination papers will be filed for Dr. Kalam by the NDA, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party. Ms. Gandhi is certain to be the main proposer in the form to be submitted on behalf of her party and other senior leaders — Dr. Singh, some Chief Ministers and others — would also sign the papers. Mr. Vajpayee himself will be the main proposer for the NDA.

Even at this late stage, parties such as the PMK have appealed to the Left not to force a contest, and several smaller parties, including the Republican Party of India and the Indian National League, have pledged support for Dr. Kalam.

A wrong signal: Sahgal

And Lakshmi Sahgal, the Left parties' candidate, who is expected to file her nomination papers on June 21, told a press conference that the nomination of the nuclear scientist, Dr. Kalam, had sent a "wrong signal'', especially at a time when Indian and Pakistani armies were standing face to face on the border, and for her (an old Indian National Army soldier) there would be no running away from the battlefield (even if the outcome was known).

Capt. Sahgal said the carnage in Gujarat would be the focal point of her campaign. "Gujarat is a case (for President's rule) ... may be many lives would have been saved (if this had been done),'' she said in response to a question.

At her press conference, Capt. Sahgal was flanked by the CPI(M) general secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, and the CPI(M) politburo members, Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, the CPI general secretary, A.B. Bardhan, the CPI national secretary, D. Raja, Abani Roy of the RSP, and S.C. Gaud of the Forward Bloc.

She said she saw the Presidential contest as a political battle, part of the struggle she had been part of all her life. Today, the four foundational pillars of the Constitution — secular democracy, economic self-reliance, federalism and social justice — were under severe stress. Indians were together in the freedom struggle, and today more than ever the "synergising of our pluralistic society or rich diversity'' was needed to safeguard and strengthen the future.

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