Kalam, Shekhawat

New Delhi, Dec. 2: The BJP has announced its support for a second term for President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, limiting the options of other political parties.

Party president Rajnath Singh told The Telegraph: “President Kalam has enhanced the dignity of this constitutional post. The BJP would support any move on his part to seek a second term.”

Kalam’s five-year term ends in July next year.

The BJP’s support for Kalam has dampened Vice-President and swayamsevak Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s ambitions for the top job. However, the idea also seems to block the candidature of a Sushil Kumar Shinde or a Shivraj Patil — two of the names doing the rounds in Congress circles.

The choice of either Shinde or Patil follows a tradition in the Congress of appointing party and Nehru-Gandhi family loyalists to the top job, irrespective of their public image. The early exceptions to this were Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, a philosopher President, Zakir Hussein, an educationist, and lately, K.R. Narayanan.

Otherwise, whether it was Giani Zail Singh or Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and V.V. Giri before him, the Congress chose loyalty over suitability. They came to occupy the high constitutional office as a result of party largesse.

After Narayanan — seen as a scholar President — it is Kalam, a scientist, who has an image that goes beyond petty political controversies.

Therefore, opposing Kalam’s candidature would not be easy for the Congress. For one, it would test the party’s pro-minority stand. For another, it would push the party into an unnecessary controversy over the credentials required for the first citizen of India.

Some within the government are arguing that it would not help to support the candidature of a divisive political personality, especially someone who seems tied to the apron strings of the Congress.

Therefore, the choice of a scholar, non-politician candidate is increasingly being talked about. The names of Bengal governor and former civil servant and diplomat Gopal Gandhi and lawyer Fali Nariman are being floated.

Not only does Gopal Gandhi have the illustrious legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, he would also be a non-partisan choice. It was the BJP that chose to send him as high commissioner to Sri Lanka in 2000 and as ambassador to Norway in 2002. The Left will also support him. Similarly, Nariman is also seen as someone with no political baggage.

Besides uniting the Left, the choice of a scholar as President is also expected to checkmate the BJP’s move to support Kalam in the eventuality of the Congress deciding not to support him for a second term.

Another factor that would go against the tradition of a “rubber stamp” candidate for President is that it would further divide the complex electoral college. Others in the UPA, primarily the Left, are not likely to support a Congress-loyalist. Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s name is in circulation as a possible Left alternative.

The scenario of a three-way contest — the BJP going with Kalam, the Congress with either Shinde or Patil and the Left with Chatterjee — does not favour the UPA. All these factors are tilting the scales in favour of a scholar President.