New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee appears to be the clear frontrunner in the race to the Rashtrapati Bhawan with as much as over 60 per cent votes swinging in his favour. However, his rival, former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma has not given up just yet, and is confident of the contest against the veteran Congressman.
Sangma, who even resigned from his party, the NCP, to contest the presidential poll has dismissed suggestions that his is a token fight against Mukherjee. Rising on the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the AIADMK, the North East strongman, in an exclusive interview to IBN18 Editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai, said that it was a serious fight.
According to the situation as of now, all the UPA allies, barring the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Forward Bloc, NDA allies JD(U) and Shiv Sena, and the CPM have decided to back Mukherjee in the race, suggesting a clear majority for him, even as the CPI and the RSP have decided to abstain from voting.
Meanwhile, to assert that the race has not yet been sealed, Sangma has pointed to the split in the NDA and the Left over the elections, saying had it been a token election, there wouldn’t have been such difference of opinion.
He said, "The very fact that there is a split in almost all political parties shows that this election is a very serious election. It's not as smooth as the Congress is claiming it to be. Why there should be a split in the Left, why there should be a split in the NDA or other parties? What does it mean? It means people are taking this election so seriously, they're giving such a deep thought to it, which is a welcome development. I like it."
On the other hand, the veteran Congress troubleshooter, leaving no stone unturned, on Friday appealed to the leadership of all parties, which have not taken their decision till now, to support him in the poll.
"The leadership of those parties who have not been able to take a decision, I appeal to them for their support," he said. Interestingly, Mukherjee made the statement in response to a question if he would meet Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee during his ongoing visit to Kolkata to seek her support.
The cornered lady from the West Bengal, who had earlier advocated the candidature of APJ Abdul Kalam very strongly, has not yet come up with a decision on the presidential poll post the pulling out of Kalam from the race. And, both Mukherjee as well as Sangma have been making repeated attempts to get her votes.
While Mukherjee and the Congress have on several occasions appealed to her publicly for her support, pointing that she is an important constituent of the UPA alliance, Sangma has claimed that even he is in touch with her and may even meet her in the next couple of days.
"She has not made up her mind yet. I'm constantly in touch with her. I hope to meet her in the next couple of days," said Sangma during his interview to CNN-IBN.
The North East leader was also asked if her daughter, Agatha Sangma, who is a part of the UPA government, would campaign for her in the presidential poll. Responding to the question, Sangma said, "She has not made up her mind as yet. There is still a lot of time left. But what I'm saying is I'm not going to influence her. She should take her own decision. She has not taken it yet, there's still time for her."
Though Sangma is confident of putting up a contest against Mukherjee, the numbers suggest that the latter will emerge as a clear winner in the race, as he has the maximum share of the votes swinging in his favour. However, with Sangma relying on the "conscience of the country" and pointing that he has not lost any election so far, the wait for the polling on July 19 continues to be interesting.
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