BJP Chief Amit Shah had appointed a three-member committee comprising Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu, to reach out to all political on building a consensus on the candidate to become the next President of India.
The Incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee‘s term ends on 24 July. The last day to file the nomination is 28 June. If NDA and non-NDA party do not settle on a consensus candidate, the contest is likely. The election will be held on 17 July and the results will be announced by 29 July. NDA is planning to file its nominations by 23 June, before Narendra Modi leaves for his US tour.
As the day is nearing, the 3 member panel is holding meetings with different opposition parties like Shiv Sena and LJP, as well as other parties such as the SP, TMC and BJD, which may back the ruling party candidate. AIADMK, YSR Congress and TRS, along with several regional parties, have already extended support to NDA on the presidential election.
BJP chief Amit Shah met Shiv Sena head Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s residence in Mumbai to discuss the presidential polls. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was present during the meeting. Thackeray reportedly disagreed with Shah’s suggestion during their meeting on Sunday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi be given the authority to choose the NDA nominee. Shiv Sena has suggested the names of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan for the top post, leaving the NDA guessing whether it will back the NDA candidate or not.
Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu held discussions on the issue with LJP chief and Cabinet colleague Ram Vilas Paswan as well as SP leaders Ram Gopal Yadav and Naresh Agarwal. BJP has already held meetings with SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Finance and defence minister Arun Jaitley, who is back from an official visit to South Korea, talked to the TMC leadership on the issue. TMC is reportedly amenable to supporting NDA if it fields Swaraj. Jaitley also talked to the BJD leadership, which has maintained that it will take a call based on who is fielded by NDA.