Determined to deny Narayanan the Presidency, Karunakaran throws hat in fray

George Iype in Delhi

Lobbying for the next President and vice-president of India is hotting up in the capital with a number of unlikely leaders shuttling between the political power centres to press for their candidature.

Thus, while none other than senior Congress leader K Karunakaran wants to become India's first citizen, present Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Najma Heptullah has started seeking the support of the Opposition parties to obtain the nomination for the vice-presidency. Heptullah believes it is about time that the country had its first woman vice-president.

President Shankar Dayal Sharma's term ends in July. Indications are that the Congress, the Left parties and a section of the Janata Dal are all for elevatingVice-President K R Narayanan as Dr Sharma's successor.

But Karunakaran, the latest liaison man between Congress president Sitaram Kesri and Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, is said to have presented his case before both gentlemen, urging them to back his candidature for the post of the country's 10th President.

Close aides of the former Kerala chief minister, who last year led the campaign to oust P V Narasimha Rao as Congress president, said Karunakaran's gambit is to ensure that Narayanan is not elevated to the President's post.

"Karunakaran and Narayanan have been sworn enemies in Kerala politics. Karunakaran thinks he should be the first Keralite to be elected to the post of President because of his 50 long years in national politics," a confidante of Karunakaran said.

Asked if he is pressing his candidature to don the President's mantle, Karunakaran told Rediff On The NeT: "I have been meeting the prime minister and Kesriji not to a to make me President of India. I confer with them to discuss the thorny issues between the Congress and the United Front government."

However, he added, "If the President's post is given to me by a consensus, I will not shy away from accepting it. But I am not an aspirant and lobbyist for this seat."

Asked whether he disapproves of elevating Narayanan to the Presidency, Karunakaran said: "I am all for consensus in electing the President."

Though Karunakaran would like to occupy the highest constitutional post in the country, it is unlikely that even the Congress will back his candidature.

Prime Minister Deve Gowda and his aide Civil Aviation Minister Chand Mahal Ibrahim reportedly want Karnataka Governor Khurshid Alam Khan to be nominated the next President, but the suggestion has met with disapproval from Janata Dal leaders.

Most of the Dal leaders led by its president Laloo Prasad Yadav and Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan have told Deve Gowda that the government should elevate Narayanan as he hails from the so-called scheduled caste community.

But who will win the vice-presidency when Narayanan steps down from office in August or is promoted to the Presidency? Heptullah is very eager to step into the slot. She is reportedly putting forth her candidature with two forceful reasons: she is a Muslim, and a Muslim woman at that.

Last week Heptullah met Bharatiya Janata Party president Lal Kishinchand Advani at his home and reportedly urged him to support her as the consensus candidate for the vice-presidency.

BJP leaders say they have not yet decided the party nominee for the Presidency. "The BJP will definitely put forward a strong candidate," Jaswant Singh, the party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, told Rediff On The NeT.

The BJP, he said, will arrive at a consensus on the issue after consultation with other Opposition groups.

But BJP sources said in all probability, the party will field noted lawyer and Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani for the Presidency.

Jethmalani contested the last Presidential election as an independent candidate against Dr Sharma, the Congress candidate, and the Opposition nominee, Professor Gilbert G Swell.