BSP key, NDA doesn’t have numbers but has Atal name

At the NDA meeting at Vajpayee’s residence, sources said Mamata Banerjee first suggested that President Kalam be asked to run for a second term. When BJP leaders pointed out that he was not prepared to contest, she said they could all go to him and persuade him. The BJP leaders then said that the President would not like to be in a situation where he becomes the Opposition’s candidate.

It was then that Banerjee, sources said, came up with Vajpayee’s name. “Who can be better than him?” she is said to have asked the meeting. She even said that he’s “an institution” and all would agree on his name for President.

Banerjee wondered aloud how could they expect Vajpayee to take his own name if they had all left the decision to him. He’s said to have simply smiled. Banerjee’s party colleague Dinesh Trivedi, Rajya Sabha MP who attended the meeting, later said: “Our party views Vajpayee as the most suitable candidate, given his seniority and calibre.”

BJP sources said the ball was in Vajpayee’s court, that his name had come up in “all seriousness”. But it was his call, the sources said, pointing to Vajpayee’s friendship with Shekhawat which goes a long way.

Briefing the media, NDA convenor George Fernandes and BJP parliamentary party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the alliance had authorised Vajpayee to “monitor” the situation and convene another meeting of the NDA to decide on its candidate. Asked about Shekhawat’s candidature, they said “no names were discussed.”

The BJP sees no merit in laying its cards on the table when there’s almost a month to go for the poll process. Until Banerjee came up with Vajpayee’s name, the party had decided on Shekhawat as its nominee. The BJP calculation was that Shekhawat has friends across party lines and could swing votes from the opposite camp.

“An NDA candidate can succeed if you all try hard,” L K Advani was said to have told a weekly meeting of party MPs this morning.