India's next president and vice president will be Modi's men
Coming weekend, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will play host to leaders of almost all the major opposition parties. On the menu will not just be some delectable delicacies, but also to try and evolve a consensus on fielding a common candidate for the presidential elections scheduled for July.
The Congress will be hoping that this get-together lays the foundation of a grand alliance for forthcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Sonia Gandhi has gone into an overdrive trying to get the disparate elements within opposition ranks on a common platform. Over the past month and a half, she has met with or spoken to almost all major players within opposition ranks.
Getting bitter rivals — such as the Yadavs and Mayawati from Uttar Pradesh, and Mamata Banerjee and the Left parties — together is by no means an easy task. However, the fear of getting totally decimated by a unrelenting Narendra Modi has prompted these diverse characters to put aside their antagonism for the moment and try and explore the possibility of putting up a joint candidate.
In the past, the Opposition has failed to come together largely on account of the vaulting ambitions of leaders and their giant egos. But given the existential threat that each one of them face from Modi, they have not only begun to sink their differences, but have also begun to dovetail their efforts to persuade sitters like Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and the likes of Arvind kejriwal to join their ranks.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been leveraging her equations with both Kejriwal and Patnaik to bring them around. Similarly, Sitaram Yechury, the CPI(M) general secretary, too has been working on Patnaik. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu yadav too have been doing their bit, in cajoling Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati.
Be that as it may, given the arithmetic of the electoral college, the dice is clearly loaded in favour of the NDA. Of the 11,000 value votes, the ruling dispensation has about 48.5 per cent, all it requires is 17,000 more value votes to get a majority of its own.
It has been working on both the factions of the AIADMK , as well as on the TRS and YSR Congress for the past couple of months and the smart money is on these three parties extending their support to the government thereby giving it a comfortable majority in the electoral college.
In fact, for the first time since Independence, the BJP is in a position to elect a person of its choice both as vice president and president of the country. The electoral college for the vice-president's election comprises MPs from both Houses of Parliament, and given its vast majority in the Lok Sabha, it will be able to elect a vice-president of its choice without breaking into a sweat.
The president's term expires on July 24, and the vice-president's on August 8, in just over two months the BJP will have its nominees in the top two constitutional positions in the country.