04-24-2007, 07:52 AM
Deccan chronicle, 24 April, 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Support builds for Kalamâs second term
New Delhi, April 23: <b>President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was not on the list of possible presidential nominees for 2007 a year ago, has made a surprising comeback with a cross-section of political parties â including the NDA, Samajwadi Party and even Lalu Prasad Yadavâs Rashtriya Janata Dal â expected to support him for a second term. </b>The Congress Party is now resigned to the fact that it will not be able to propose a partyman (or woman) for the post and will have to find a candidate who can get more support than Dr Kalam if it wants to replace him in the elections due in June this year.
RJD leader and Union rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, when contacted, said: "President Kalam is our man, he is a good man." He made it clear, however, as all other parties have said, that the process for selecting a presidential candidate will begin only after the Uttar Pradesh elections are over. The final choice of candidate should be known by the end of May or early June. The Congress, which was hoping to steer the presidential polls in favour of its candidate, has admitted unofficially that it cannot now count on the support of its UPA allies and other regional parties.
The Left parties have not decided on a candidate, but there are few takers within the CPI(M) for Samajwadi leader Amar Singhâs suggestion that Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee be a candidate for President. "There is no such move" â this was the response of leaders of both the CPI and CPI(M) when asked about this possibility. The Left is not keen at all on having a party leader sitting in Rashtrapati Bhavan, and sources in the Left said they had not even started the process of finding a suitable candidate.
The Congress, on the other hand, has a host of names in front of it: ranging from West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi to Dr Karan Singh, currently president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, to senior party leader and Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
The BJP is becoming increasingly more inclined to support Dr Kalam for a second term, although certain sections have not ruled out vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat as a potential candidate. However, the party is aware that it will not be able to rally support around him and that Dr Kalamâs candidature could once again cut into third front formations by getting the support of regional parties as well. Dr Kalamâs candidature in 2002 had divided the newly-formed front at the time comprising the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal(S). Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav had proposed Dr Kalamâs name and had refused to change his decision at the time.
The BJP is also optimistic that the Kalam card will split the UPA, with the Dravidian parties also coming out in support of giving the President a second term. The Indian Union Muslim League had also supported Dr Kalam, who had eventually emerged as the consensus candidate. Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, who has a good relationship with the President, had at that time described him as a âgood choiceâ, and has reportedly indicated his enthusiasm for a second term for the nuclear scientist.
<b>Except for the Congress, which has not been particularly pleased about Dr Kalamâs tendency to go by the book on important issues, most other parties have only cemented their relations with him during his five years at Rashtrapati Bhavan.</b> Sources said he has been extremely accessible, and rarely refuses requests by political leaders for an audience. The political consensus is that the President has conducted himself well, has kept out of irrelevant controversies, has contributed to constitutional debates, and has been an active and enthusiastic incumbent.
President Kalamâs simple style of living has endeared him to his staff, who speak highly of him given the opportunity. <b>The only visible opposition to him comes from the Left and Congress ranks, but even the former admit that his interventions in the past five years have been very much directed by the Constitution.</b>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So its based on UP elections.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Support builds for Kalamâs second term
New Delhi, April 23: <b>President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was not on the list of possible presidential nominees for 2007 a year ago, has made a surprising comeback with a cross-section of political parties â including the NDA, Samajwadi Party and even Lalu Prasad Yadavâs Rashtriya Janata Dal â expected to support him for a second term. </b>The Congress Party is now resigned to the fact that it will not be able to propose a partyman (or woman) for the post and will have to find a candidate who can get more support than Dr Kalam if it wants to replace him in the elections due in June this year.
RJD leader and Union rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, when contacted, said: "President Kalam is our man, he is a good man." He made it clear, however, as all other parties have said, that the process for selecting a presidential candidate will begin only after the Uttar Pradesh elections are over. The final choice of candidate should be known by the end of May or early June. The Congress, which was hoping to steer the presidential polls in favour of its candidate, has admitted unofficially that it cannot now count on the support of its UPA allies and other regional parties.
The Left parties have not decided on a candidate, but there are few takers within the CPI(M) for Samajwadi leader Amar Singhâs suggestion that Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee be a candidate for President. "There is no such move" â this was the response of leaders of both the CPI and CPI(M) when asked about this possibility. The Left is not keen at all on having a party leader sitting in Rashtrapati Bhavan, and sources in the Left said they had not even started the process of finding a suitable candidate.
The Congress, on the other hand, has a host of names in front of it: ranging from West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi to Dr Karan Singh, currently president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, to senior party leader and Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
The BJP is becoming increasingly more inclined to support Dr Kalam for a second term, although certain sections have not ruled out vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat as a potential candidate. However, the party is aware that it will not be able to rally support around him and that Dr Kalamâs candidature could once again cut into third front formations by getting the support of regional parties as well. Dr Kalamâs candidature in 2002 had divided the newly-formed front at the time comprising the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal(S). Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav had proposed Dr Kalamâs name and had refused to change his decision at the time.
The BJP is also optimistic that the Kalam card will split the UPA, with the Dravidian parties also coming out in support of giving the President a second term. The Indian Union Muslim League had also supported Dr Kalam, who had eventually emerged as the consensus candidate. Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, who has a good relationship with the President, had at that time described him as a âgood choiceâ, and has reportedly indicated his enthusiasm for a second term for the nuclear scientist.
<b>Except for the Congress, which has not been particularly pleased about Dr Kalamâs tendency to go by the book on important issues, most other parties have only cemented their relations with him during his five years at Rashtrapati Bhavan.</b> Sources said he has been extremely accessible, and rarely refuses requests by political leaders for an audience. The political consensus is that the President has conducted himself well, has kept out of irrelevant controversies, has contributed to constitutional debates, and has been an active and enthusiastic incumbent.
President Kalamâs simple style of living has endeared him to his staff, who speak highly of him given the opportunity. <b>The only visible opposition to him comes from the Left and Congress ranks, but even the former admit that his interventions in the past five years have been very much directed by the Constitution.</b>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So its based on UP elections.