BJP wants consensus candidate for President

The BJP has said that it wants a consensus candidate for the Presidential election and formed a three-member committee of senior ministers to talk to other political parties.

The party said in a statement that two former BJP presidents Rajnath Singh and M. Venkaiah Naidu, as well as Arun Jaitley are members of the committee, which will talk to leaders of various political parties over the Presidential election and try to evolve a consensus.

The Presidential election will be held on 17 July. President Pranab Mukherjee’s term ends on 24 July.

The party has so far not given any indication about its likely nominee but Opposition parties including the Congress have held talks to find a consensus candidate. The Opposition has made it clear that they would await the choice of the ruling side before announcing its strategy.

The Opposition parties want that the candidate should be one who should be able to protect the Constitution. It has also said that if a consensual candidate does not emerge, they will field a candidate “who will steadfastly defend the Constitutional values”.

Opposition parties will meet on 14 June to formally start discussions on the Presidential and Vice Presidential elections. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has initiated moves to bring the opposition parties under one umbrella for the election.

Sonia Gandhi recently constituted a 10-member sub-group of representatives from Opposition parties to take forward the deliberations and discussions on the election. The sub-group consists of Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Sharad Yadav (JD-U), Lalu Prasad (RJD), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Derek O’Brien (TMC), Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Satish Chandra Mishra (BSP), R.S. Bharathi (DMK) and Praful Patel (NCP).