Najma Heptulla tells me she's running to be India's next President
The race for President of India has just been declared officially open, with Najma Heptulla, currently the governor of Manipur and a former Union minister, formally throwing her hat in the ring.
Speaking to me exclusively, Heptulla revealed she had told BJP president Amit Shah about her intention to contest for the post of president or vice-president.
"I had told Ram Lal earlier and then told Mr Shah recently that I was going to contest and would want the party to support me for whichever job they believe I am fit for. I have run the House for 17 years and think I can do a good job," says Heptulla.
She adds: "I am neither playing the minority nor the gender card but the qualified and experienced-for-the-job card. Both my daughters live abroad, I am all alone here. Despite occasionally feeling lonely I continue because I am passionate about public life. Issues matter to me."
Asked if Shah promised her BJP's support, Heptulla smiles and says "that is between me and my party president. All I can tell you is that I will be running for the job".
Heptulla, who is currently in Delhi, met PM Narendra Modi yesterday but it could not be confirmed if her candidature was discussed.
If Heptulla becomes BJP's candidate, it will cause intense heartburn both within the BJP where aspirants abound and in the Congress, from which she defected. The Opposition has a majority in the Rajya Sabha which will not change till late 2018 and Heptulla running the Rajya Sabha as vice-president will cause immense discomfort to the Congress leadership.
This perhaps may be one of the most attractive reasons for her candidature - a poke in the eye of the Congress.
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| Virtually every senior politician in the BJP and other parties friendly to it fancies Pranab Muhkerjee and Hamid Ansari's posts. (Photo: India Today) |
Virtually every senior politician in the BJP and other parties friendly to it fancies Pranab Muhkerjee and Hamid Ansari's jobs. Mukherjee will not be offered a second term and this has been conveyed to him by the top leadership of the BJP. He was elected president in July 2012 for a term of five years. Neither will the NDA government propose Ansari for the president's post, given their apparent and active dislike of him.
The house on the the hill is ever enticing to all senior politicians in the BJP's margdarshak mandal, such as LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. Venkaiah Naidu, Union minister for urban development, with his fervent praise of Modi, calling him an "avatar of God" is also believed to be lobbying for the president's job.
The list of aspirants in the BJP is endless and also includes current Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, and even Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
Sources say that despite her desire to be president, Mahajan is too useful for the government in the Lok Sabha and is unlikely to make the cut. Jung is also dismissed as a typical uninformed "Dilli speculation".
Senior BJP leaders say that Jaitley, who represents the government in the Rajya Sabha, and Mohan Bhagwat of RSS will be the two primary parties who will make the decision along with Modi and Shah.
They rule out Advani's candidature completely and say that while Bhagwat will be happy to support Joshi, the other three are not that enthused. Joshi would want to be president and not vice-president. But he's definitely better placed than the others who form part of the margdarshak mandal and would be the wider Sangh Parivar's choice if they had the numbers.
Unlike Heptulla, no other senior politician has gone on record about the fact that they are ready to run, but leaders like Sharad Pawar and Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal-United have been lobbying for the two posts for years.
Modi, who is halfway through his term, will want the occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan to be somebody he can trust absolutely, as the then President will swear in the new government after the general elections.
With an unprecedented face-off between the Opposition and the government, with both sides refusing to concede an inch, and unexpected events such as the badly planned demonetisation drive, the 14th President of India will have a lot on her or his plate.