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Third Front power play : Abstain in the Presidential election

	July 16, 2007

Keep alive prospects of allying with the Left in future



In a move with immense political significance, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), a combine of nine regional parties, has decided to abstain from voting in the July 19 Presi¬dential election. At a meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, July 14, the UNPA decided to put up its own candidate for Vice Presi¬dent to maintain its identity, as the combine put it.



The alliance said that it will maintain equi-distance from both the ruling United Progressive Alliance and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, both in the Presidential and Vice Presidential elections. On relations with the Left, the UNPA said that it will seek the support of the Left parties for its Vice Presidential nominee or go along with them on condition that they withdraw support to the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre.



Observers say that while there is no immediate possibility of the Left parties withdrawing support to the UPA, the socalled Third Front’s move keeps the options alive in the future, espe¬cially when the chips will be down for the Lok Sabha elections due in 2009.



Briefing media-persons after the three-hour UNPA meeting, All India Anna DMK chief Jayalalithaa said, “We had already declared that we will not back a candidate supported by the UPA or the NDA. There is no change in that decision. The UNPA will abstain from voting.”



She said they had taken legal opinion on this position and were advised that there was no legal bar on abstaining from voting in the Presidential election.



The UNPA has votes roughly valued at over one lakh in the 10.98-lakh vote electoral college.



Quick to respond, the NDA-supported independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said that a clarification would be sought from the Election Commission whether abstaining from voting would amount to issuing a whip.



“The Election Commission should clarify whether those who want to vote can do so without hindrance or would such a decision by a party amount to issuance of whip.”



On the Vice-Presidential election to be held in August, Jayalalithaa said that the UNPA would put up its own candidate whose name would be announced later.



“The UNPA has taken a conscious decision not to back a UPA or NDA-backed candidate. We cannot have a different yardstick for the Vice-Presidential election.”



The UNPA leaders said they would not seek NDA support for their Vice-Presidential nominee - as they had sought for Presi¬dent A.P.J. Abdul Kalam - despite knowing that their candidate would not win (on his/her own). “But we will register our vote and our identity.”



Asked whether they would support a Left candidate in the Vice-Presidential election, the UNPA leaders said similar to the “compulsion” of the Left parties to go along with the Congress-led UPA’s candidate, they too could not go along with them if they remained with the UPA.



Replying to a question, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav said there was no division among the UNPA leaders on their stand on the Presidential as well as Vice-Presidential elections.



Analysts say the “conscious” decisions of the UNPA are significant coming as they do in the wake of CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat’s meeting with Telugu Desam Party leader N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday and BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s parleys with Jayalalithaa.



Jayalalithaa said she discussed the political situation with Jaswant Singh when he called on her on Friday in New Delhi. National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah had joined them later.



Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh alleged that the Union Finance Ministry was targeting Jayalalithaa by freezing her bank accounts. He charged the UPA Government with attempts to frame Mulayam Singh Yadav in a CBI case.





National Conference joins UNPA



Earlier in the week, the UNPA got a boost on Monday, July 9, when the National Conference decided to join the combine. The decision was announced after a UNPA meeting in New Delhi attended by TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu, Samajwadi party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, INLD president Om Prakash Chautla and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference.





War of words in the Presidential election escalates



For most part of last week, the country was in official mourning because of the death of former Prime Minister Chan¬drashekhar. But this did not stop the BJP and the Congress engaging in a war of words in the Presidential election.



Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the Independent candidate supported by the BJP-led NDA and his wife declared their assets and liabil¬ities on July 13. But if the intention was to put moral and political pressure on the UPA-Left nominee Pratibha Patil to follow suit, it did not have any effect. Shekhawat’s move ap¬peared to be part of his campaign strategy. His declaration of his own and his wife’s assets, both movable and immovable, indi¬cated that they are together worth only a few crore rupees.



The Congress described Shekhawat’s move as ‘political melo¬drama and hypocritical farce’ while taking a non-committal stand on whether Pratibha Patil will also make public her assets, liabilities and pending cases. The Congress said that the law of the land does not require Pratibha Patil to declare her assets and liabilities. The party maintained that the Returning Officer would not be able to accept the document even if it is furnished by the Presidential candidates.



Observers say that Shekhawat might score moral points in the public domain, but the Presidential electoral college con¬sists of MPs and MLAs from across the country, most of whom are considered committed voters on party lines. In the game of numbers, Pratibha Patil, who is being backed by a large number of parties besides the UPA-Left-BSP, enjoys formidable numerical superiority over Shekhawat. The gap between the two is bound to increase after the UNPA decision to abstain in the voting.





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Shekhawat’s assets and liabilities



According to Shekhawat’s declaration, he holds a bank bal¬ance of Rs. 25.60 lakh and Rs. one lakh in cash. His wife Suraj Kanwar is relatively richer having Rs. 25.86 lakh in fixed depos¬its, Rs. 1.25 lakh in cash and Rs. 5,849 in savings bank ac¬count.



Shekhawat owns jewellery worth Rs. one lakh while his wife’s gold ornaments are estimated at around Rs. 5.25 lakh and their silver utensils are worth Rs. 3.90 lakh.



Kanwar owns a 1,000 sq. yard plot in Jaipur, whose present value is estimated at Rs. 1.54 crore. There is another 650 Sq. yard plot, worth Rs. 55 lakh in Jaipur, which has been put in a disputed claims category in her name. The cases are pending in Rajasthan courts over 22.8 bighas of land listed in Kanwar’s disputed claims column in the declaration which states that the couple do not owe any dues to banks or to any government depart¬ment.



Kanwar owns an Ambassador car of 1980 model while her husband has an Army-disposed vehicle registered in his name.



Shekhawat owns less than one hectare of land, an ancestral property in Sikar district in Rajasthan, but his wife has 6.28 hectares in a Jaipur district village.



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NDA alleges phone-tapping, UPA denies the charge



Vitiating further the war of allegations, Independent candi¬date’s Shekhawat’s spokesperson Sushma Swaraj alleged on July 11 that the phones of some of the key persons in their camp were being tapped by the Government. She said that her mobile phone and also those of S.S. Ahluwalia and Digvijay Singh were under surveillance. Sushma Swaraj claimed that her mobile phone con¬nects her to the police control room most of the time when she calls up her home landline. She said the Election Commission would be requested to ensure phone lines are not tapped. Sushma Swaraj said, “Our confidentiality is being disturbed, our commu¬nication systems are being disrupted.” She said this is equiv¬alent to the Watergate Scandal involving illegal wire tapping of Democratic Party offices in the US in 1972.



The Congress dismissed the charge saying that its opponents did not deserve that kind of attention. Union Minister Renuka Chaudhary said, “We are not just bothered about them in a contest whose outcome is decided; are they so important, why should we tap their phones ?”



The Ministry of Home Affairs said that it had no information regarding the wire-tapping. The matter was discussed at a meet¬ing convened by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta on July 11 evening.



Pratibha Patil’s pointsman in the presidential race, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, termed the phone tapping allegations s rubbish, bogus and insane. “Why should we tap their phones; we consider them as ideological opponents and not some conspirators, why should we interfere in their private matters,” Dasmunshi said, adding that “Swaraj is putting up this stunt to get ahead of L.K. Advani in their propaganda race.”





BJP launches website against UPA candidate



BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley on Tuesday, July 10, launched www.knowpratibhapatil.com, a website that details alle¬gations levelled against the UPA candidate.



This comes despite Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s assurance on not raising allegations against Patil in his cam¬paign. BJP’s LK Advani has said his party had not leveled the charges, which are an “outcome of meticulous investigation and reportage”.



Jaitley launched the website at a press conference at former BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu’s residence. A 60-page booklet containing recent news stories and commentaries against Patil was also released. “Even though the people do not elect the Presi¬dent, they have a right to know whether the likely winner embod¬ies the lofty ideals enshrined in the Constitution of India, of which he or she will be the custodian,” Jaitley said.



The website has been conceived by a group of people friendly to the BJP. They include the Pioneer editor Chandan Mitra, col¬umnists Swapan Dasgupta, Surya Prakash, and Ashok Malik, and Tarlochan Singh (former personal secretary to Giani Zail Singh) and Sudheendra Kulkarni, who served in the Prime Minister’s Office under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.



The Congress immediately retaliated against the website. It accused NDA nominee Bhairon Singh Shekhawat of misusing the Vice Presidential office for campaigning and charged Leader of Opposi¬tion L K Advani with propagating cross voting in violation of the anti-defection law. It further alleged that the BJP was undermin¬ing the presidency by perpetuating falsehoods against Patil.



Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunshi restricted his attack against Shekhawat to poll related issues. “I am pained he has been calling up MPs and MLAs to campaign as Vice President and not as a presidential candidate...His office rings up saying the call is from the Vice President’s office. It is an abject misuse of office,’’ he charged.





Vajpayee, Fernandes appeal for supporting Shekhawat



In a joint letter, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vaj¬payee of the BJP and NDA convener George Fernandes have appealed to members of the Presidential Electoral College to vote for Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. They spoke of the ‘likely return of forces of authoritarianism who tried to extinguish democracy by imposing the Emergency.’ In an implicit reference to Pratibha Patil’s alleged leanings towards the Nehru-Gandhi family and selection of her name for the top post, the letter said : “We (Shekhawat, Vajpayee and Fernandes) did not rise in politics because we were born in a particular family. We rose in politics because of the love and affection that the people of this country showered upon us.



“Today, that fabric of democracy is stretched to the limit and is in danger of being torn asunder by the authoritarian forces once again.”



The letter accused the Congress-led UPA and Left parties of ‘imposing‘ Pratibha Patil on the BJP and its NDA allies. It said the election process began normally, but for the lack of attempt by the ruling coalition to evolve ‘consensus’ on her candida¬ture. “Consensus for them meant the rest of us accepting their nominee for the post at the last moment,” it said adding, “For us consensus meant dialogue, discussion and agreement on one name and in time.”



The letter also spoke of what it called UPA’s unprincipled stand opposing to a second term for outgoing President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. It said, the UPA’s insistence on imposing its nominee Pratibha Patil had made the ongoing Presidential elec¬tion “unusual, extraordinary and extremely important for the future of our democracy.”



The joint appeal follows an earlier missive from former Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani asking the MPs and MLAs to cast conscience vote in favour of Shekhawat.



While Advani’s letter referred to the charges levelled against the UPA candidate, the letter from Vajpayee and Fernandes lauded Shekhawat’s contribution to the nation and his impeccable record in public service.





Vajpayee has distorted facts: Congress



Reacting to the letter, the Congress attacked former Prime Minister Vajpayee for allegedly “distorting the facts.” The party slammed Shekhawat for his “sustained links with the BJP and the RSS” despite holding the constitutional office of Vice President.



Raising objection to Vajpayee’s point that the current Presidential contest became necessary following the ruling Con¬gress-led UPA coalition’s “unprincipled” opposition to a second term for the incumbent President, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Parlia¬mentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi accused Vaj¬payee of “great distortion.” “The world over, it is the same principle that the parties in power propose, negotiate and decide the presidential candidate; the same principle had always been followed in India too, as demonstrated by the Janata Party gov¬ernment in 1977, the United Front government in 1997, and by the BJP-led NDA government in the case of Dr Kalam in 2002,” said Dasmunshi.



“Is it unusual because the BJP could not accept a lady as the country’s President, or because they have brought down the dignity of the presidential office, or because even the opposi¬tion NDA is not united on the matter,” charged Dasmunshi.





Shekhawat should quit as Vice President : Congress



The Congress says that Bhairon Singh Shekhawat should quit as Vice President before seeking to claim a moral high ground. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, speaking in New Delhi on July 12, referred to past examples where Vice Presidents had quit their office before running for the Presi¬dency. The BJP, however, said that Shekhawat was not going to oblige the Congress by putting in his papers.







In the meantime, Pratibha Patil continues her tour of the country seeking the support of MPs and MLAs for her candidature. Among the places she visited last week were Kolkata, Jaipur, Lucknow and Delhi. Speaking in Kolkata, Pratibha Patil said, 60 years after Independence, India will have a woman President.



Another PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging Pratibha Patil’s nomination as a candidate for the Presidential poll. Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, whose earlier PIL was reject¬ed by the apex court on July 3, filed a petition last week chal¬lenging the Election Commission order declining to take any action against Pratibha Patil. The court said the matter would be taken up in the normal course.



In a related development, a petition was filed in the Bombay High Court by Rajni Patil, widow of former Jalgaon DCC chief Vishram Patil, seeking interrogation of Pratibha Patil and her brother G.N. Patil in the Vishram Patil murder case. The court asked the CBI to file its reply by July 17. The petition seeks Pratibha Patil’s interrogation in connection with the murder case before the July 19 presidential poll.





Pratibha Patil ahead by over three lakh votes : Dasmunshi



Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said in New Delhi on July 12 that Pratibha Patil was ahead of NDA-backed Bhairon Singh Shekhawat by over 3,00,000 votes. He said the UPA-Left have more than six lakh votes and Pratibha Patil is going to win by a huge margin. He released figures indicating the votes of the Congress and other parties which support Pratib¬ha Patil’s candidature.



The BJP received another setback last week with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, disqualifying its member Krishan Murari Moghe as a Member of Parliament from Khargone in Madhya Pradesh for holding an office of profit. The action followed a recom¬mendation by the Election Commission.