While the opposition is trying hard to come up with a name for the upcoming presidential polls, the Centre is confident that the NDA candidate will win the poll with at least 54 per cent votes.
Times of India, in its report, cited sources saying that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi is likely to support the NDA camp while the AIADMK is certain to back it.
“DMK going with Congress and attending Sonia Gandhi's luncheon meeting of opposition parties has sealed the deal between AIADMK and BJP,” a senior BJP leader was quoted by Times of India as saying.
The total value of votes in the electoral college for the presidential poll is 10,98,882 with the majority mark at 5,49,442.
Commenting on the opposition’s attempts to put up a contest for the presidential poll, the BJP leader said, “It is amusing to see the feeble attempts at opposition unity. Apart from leaders accused of corruption like Lalu Prasad seated beside former PM Manmohan Singh and Kanimozhi next to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, there was very little that seemed to have been achieved at Friday's meeting”.
After Friday’s luncheon hosted by Congress, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee today said if opposition parties could not agree on a unanimous candidate for the upcoming presidential election, a "small committee" could be formed to help them select a suitable nominee.
Banerjee, who attended Congress president Sonia Gandhi's lunch for 17 opposition parties, said no names were discussed at the lunch-cum-meeting at the Parliament House Library.
In the recently-concluded India TV ‘Samvaad’ conclave organised to assess the performance of the three-year-old government, BJP President Amit Shah had exuded confidence of the NDA candidate’s win in the upcoming presidential election.
As per the current statistics, the BJP-led NDA will need support of any one of the non-NDA parties to ensure its victory in the presidential election. The party’s prospect of getting its candidate elected to the top Constitutional post was cemented after it emerged victorious in recent assembly polls held in in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
