Sonia tries to team up with regional parties ahead of Presidential election

In order to place a secular face on the top, on the presidential post, the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, is trying to team up with the regional parties, particularly secular parties. It is said that the congress is tirelessly working towards achieving a consensus with the secular parties in an effort to select a single secular candidate for the Presidential post. There are speculations that the BJP is going to come up with a hardliner rightist candidate for the presidential election, clearly exposing its rightist nature. If it is so, it is expected to be an easy job for the congress to bring all secular parties under a single platform. At this moment, it is not clear whether the congress pushes for incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee or not. It is learned that the congress is ready to discuss all possibilities and is open to consider any suggestions. As per the latest report, the Congress chief has already discussed the matter with the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and the Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav. According to the report, Rahul Gandi, the congress Vice-President, has also taken a similar initiative to create a consensus in the matter by meeting former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, NCP chief Shard Pawar and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury. In the coming days, the congress leaders are likely to meet JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, CPI chief D Raja, BJD supremo Navin Patnaik, TMC leader Mamata Banerjee, DMK chief M K Stalin, and even BSP leader Mayawati.

Vignesh

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