NEW DELHI: Maratha leader and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar remained adamant on Wednesday, declining to be the Opposition's Presidential mascot, as requested by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee at a meeting of the opposition parties.
This was his official stand at the meeting, urging all not to make him a butt of joke by repeatedly floating his name despite his refusal, not once but so many times. Why pester him still, he asked, feeling hurt at comments that his "no" means "yes."
In an earlier meeting with the NCP leaders at his residence, he told them that he does not want to fight "a losing battle" and the most important task before him is to ensure the ruling alliance of Maharashtra led by the Shiv Sena completes its full 5-year term.
At the meeting of the 17 parties, he bluntly asked the leaders to look for some other candidate, asserting that "even at the age of 81, I still have an active political innings to play."
Mamata, who had convened the meeting, proposed Pawar's name despite him declining the invite during a meeting with her at his residence on Tuesday evening. Sources said she has suggested two other options -- former Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi (77), the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and National Conference supremo and former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah (84).
Gandhi was the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance nominee for the Vice-President's post in 2017, which he lost to NDA candidate M Venkaiah Naidu, polling 244 votes, as against his 514.
The meeting set June 21 as the deadline for deciding the presidential candidate. It was also decided to persuade Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to join the Opposition presidential bandwagon. Significantly, all three skipped Wednesday's meeting.
The presidential election is to take place on July 18 and the results are to be declared on July 21 for the new president to take the oath on July 25, a day after the present incumbent Ram Nath Kovind retires. Nominations for the election have already started and June 29 is the last date for filing of papers; withdrawals are allowed till July 2.
Wednesday's meeting was attended by 17 parties, namely, Congress, TMC, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), RSP, Shiv Sena, NCP, RJD, SP, National Conference, PDP, JD(S), DMK, RLD, IUML and JMM. Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge attended the meeting as authorised by party president Sonia Gandhi, along with Jairam Ramesh and AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, but he did not propose any name.
The others who turned up were: former PM H D Deve Gowda, Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, DMK's T R Baalu, Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi, and RJD's Manoj Jha.
