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| Farooq misses bus | | |
ET REPORTER
Jammu, July 16: One of the most interesting of the Indian politicians and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah has finally once again missed the opportunity to board the bus of his dreams.
Towards the end of his last stint as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah developed a serious interest in running for the post of President or the Vice President of India. Recently he had admitted that he was so deeply involved in the race for Vice Presidential post that his part lost at the home turf in 2002 elections.
The United National Progressive Alliance also known as Third Front was actively considering the name of Dr Abdullah as its nominee for the post of Vice President of India but at the last moment he severed ties with the Front.
As the things unfolded today, it came out that the UNPA was looking for a Muslim face for the VP post and had Dr Farooq Abdullah’s name under active consideration. With Farooq preferring to concentrate on home state politics rather than running empty for the Vice President’s post, the Third Front today named former Union Minister and sitting Lok Sabha MP of Samajwadi Party Rasheed Masood as its candidate for the Vice Presidential poll.
The announcement of candidature of 59-year-old Masood, a five-time MP from Saharanpur in Western UP, was announced by Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh at a press conference in Mumbai.
"Masood has excellent credentials. He has been a MP several times, as well as a Cabinet minister. He is a veteran politician and his credentials are defintely better than those of Pratibha Patil's," Singh told reporters here.
"Masood was the unanimous choice of all the members of the UNPA", Singh claimed adding there were other names discussed but there is no point mentioning it now".
"All the main constituents of UNPA, including Jayalalitha, N Chandrababu Naidu, Babulal Marandi and others will be present when Masood files his papers soon," Singh said.
Asked whether UNPA had been in talks with UPA or NDA for its support, he said "we have neither asked them for support nor are we expecting it from Congress or BJP. We have opposed the candidature of Pratibha Patil and nothing will change in the Vice Presidential elections."
Singh said the Left parties had been informed of the decision to field Masood as the candidate for Vice Presidential post.
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