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| Crafty Mulayam Yadav playing politics | | Lok Sabha Speaker being groomed for topmost slot | | BL KAK
NEW DELHI, MARCH 6
Somnath Chatterjee, Lok Sabha Speaker and political heavyweight among the Left leaders, seems satisfied with the idea supporting his passage into the Rashtrapati Bhavan as the next President of India. And even as the idea has originated from the controversial Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chatterjee has no plans to go against it.
Signifcantly, several MPs have, in the past some days, sought to know Somnath Chatterjee's reaction to the proposal floated by the Samajwadi Party (SP) in his support. Samajwadi Party is led by Mulayam Singh Yadav. It is also signifcant that at a time when Mulayam Yadav is supposed to concentrate his attention and energy on the upcoming crucial Asembly polls in UP, he appears busy with the Presidential elections scheduled to take place in July.
Mulayam Singh Yadav called on Somnath Chatterjee on Tuesday morning to discuss the possibility of putting the Lok Sabha Speaker as a candidate for Presidency. The Samajwadi Partyy has publicly declared its support for Chatterjee if he were to contest the elections. The SP had supported President A P J Abdul Kalam in the last elections but he has indicated that he is not interested in a second term.
The Left has not yet taken a decision on Somnath Chatterjee but SP has suggested that he be the joint candidate of both the factions. The Congress has not indicated its choice so far but may have to go in for a compromise candidate, as it will not have enough numbers in the college of MPs and MLAs that elects the President. Somnath Chatterjee, however, will face opposition from the BJP, which is upset with his functioning as Speaker.
Meanwhilke, an opinion poll conducted by a leading news magazine has found that an overwhelming majority of three out of four wants APJ Abdul Kalam for another term in Presidency. The survey conducted by 'The Week-C Voter Opinion Poll' found that 74.8 per cent of 1,240 respondents favoured incumbent Kalam as the next President. 12.4 per cent of those surveyed said 'no' to his candidature while almost an equal number could not say anything on the issue.
To a question if he was the best President ever, 61.3 per cent nodded in the affirmative, while 22.7 per cent did not think so. Asked whom would they prefer in a field of Kalam, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Congress leader Karan Singh, the President scored an impressive 64 per cent, while Shekhawat got 15.3 per cent and Singh 6.9 per cent.
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