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| Vice President Shekhawat to spring a surprise | | |
BL KAK
NEW DELHI, May 22
Bhartiya Jana Party's grand old man, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, is, according to available indications, planning to take his party and others as well by surprise in the upcoming presidential poll. Shekhawat, who is India's Vice President, has not given up his ambition to enter Rashtrapati Bhavan as a successor to APJ Abdul Kalam.
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat may contest the upcoming presidential poll but as an independent candidate. It now appears that, instead of being nominated as the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate, Shekhawat may be asked to file his nomination as an independent.
The NDA had earlier authorised former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to nominate the presidential candidate. Vajpayee, a close personal friend of Shekhawat, has however, not named anyone so far.
There is a growing feeling that Shekhawat is capable of turning the tables on the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which, in all likelihood, will nominate a Congress party member as its candidate. "As an independent, he would be able to make inroads into votes of some of the so-called secular parties, which otherwise would not like to support our nominee", a senior BJP leader said.
This year's presidential elections may turn out to be the most keenly contested ever. While it is highly unlikely that the Samajwadi Party, which was voted out of power in Uttar Pradesh earlier this month, would vote for a Congress nominee, the UPA cannot take the Bahujan Samaj Party, now in power in UP, for granted.
The calculation is that fielding Shekhawat as an independent would make some regional parties, which are in the process of launching a third front in view of the 2009 general elections, opt to vote for a non-Congress candidate.
The Samajwadi Party, Telugu Desam Party, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) are among the parties which could vote for Shekhawat if he takes the field as an independent.
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