Sena doesn't want Patil as Prez

New Delhi The Shiv Sena is not enthusiastic about the possible candidature of Home Minister Shivraj Patil for the post of President.

"There cannot be a one-way love affair. No one can take it for granted that we will support any one just because he is from Maharashtra," PTI quoted party MP Sanjay Raut as saying.

Raut, executive editor of the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, told PTI that anyone who wants the support of the party would have to "convince" Sena Chief Bal Thackeray on his stand on various issues.

He said this was applicable to all presidential aspirants whether it was Patil or Bhairon Singh Shekhawat or anyone else as " we are against rubber stamps."

The Shiv Sena is part of the BJP-led NDA and is the oldest ideological ally of the saffron party.

Emphasising that these aspirants needed to explain their stand on the hanging of Mohmmed Afzal Guru, convicted for his role in Parliament terror strike, Raut said Thackeray expressed his opposition to a second term for incumbent A P J Abdul Kalam as he kept the issue pending.

Thackarey felt that the delay in carrying out the sentence was due to "pressure" from the Congress-led coalition at the Centre, he said.

Incidentally, the Shiv Sena and Left parties were strange bedfellows on the issue of opposition to a second term for Kalam, though the reasons differed.

Raut said it should not be forgotten that Patil was also responsible for the "mess" on the Afzal issue, given the fact that he has been the Home Minister for the past three years and had defended the government's stand in the matter in Parliament.

Noting that the Shiv Sena does favour that there should be Maharashtrians in top posts like president and prime minister, he recalled Thackeray’s statement that the party would like NCP chief Sharad Pawar to become Prime Minister.

"There is no change in our stand in this regard," he said adding that the Sena chief would decide the stand of the party as regards the presidential polls.