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Sangma ignores NCP's advice, says he's in race for Prez as tribal candidate | | Former Lok Sabha speaker and NCP leader P.A. Sangma on Friday said he is still in the race for Rashtrapati Bhavan, but as a tribal candidate, and not as a NCP leader NCP General Secretary D P Tripathi met Sangma earlier in the day
and reportedly told him that the party will support the UPA candidate in the presidential
poll, thereby suggesting that he opt out of the race. When asked to comment on
his interaction with Tripathi, Sangma said: "He asked me whether I am still in
the race. I said I am very much in the race. I will remain in the race. He never
told me that there is a message from Mr. Sharad Pawar requesting me to withdraw
from the race, he did not tell me. He only asked me whether I am still in the
race." "I am standing not as a NCP candidate. I am standing on behalf of 100 million
adivasis of this nation," he added. Sangma pointed out that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
J Jayalalithaa and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had proposed his name
as a candidate for the residential poll. Sangma, who has been campaigning on the
ground that the country should have a tribal president, has so far met various
political leaders including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Lal Krishna Advani.
Jayalalithaa and Patnaik had on May 17 announced their joint support for Sangma.
When asked to comment on former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdula Kalam's candidature
for the coveted post, Sangma said: "Kalam has been President once. He will not
take such a risk." West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief
Mamata Banerjee, who has been at loggerheads with the ruling Congress Party over
the presidential candidate, has strongly pitched for A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for the
coveted post, and indicated that in case no consensus emerges on his candidature
there will be a contest. Abdul Kalam served as the 11th President of India, succeeding
K. R. Narayanan. He won the 2002 presidential election with an electoral vote
of 922,884, surpassing 107,366 votes won by Lakshmi Sahgal. He served from July
25, 2002 to July 24, 2007. Kalam was succeeded by Pratibha Devisingh Patil, whose
term as President of India ends on July 24.
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