News Analysis: Indian opposition parties meeting to field joint candidate for upcoming presidential polls

As the ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janta Party is sweeping elections in India and emerging as a strong contender, it has sent a tizzy among the opposition parties in India.

The parties being pushed to wall by the BJP have now their eyes focussed on the upcoming Indian presidential elections. On the forefront is main opposition Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi leading her party's efforts to forge unity with frontline leaders of other opposition parties.

These days Gandhi has been meeting leaders from other parties to discuss consensus candidate for the presidential election.

On Wednesday evening Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar called on Gandhi to discuss a joint opposition candidate for the presidential election.

Pawar's meeting with Gandhi comes a day after another senior Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav met her on the issue.

"We are trying to forge a consensus on fielding a joint candidate to take on the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the forthcoming presidential election," a senior Congress party leader said. "Our party president is meeting the people from all likeminded parties on the issue."

Congress party that has ruled India maximum number of times is trying to reach out to other opposition and regional parties, urging them to end "anti-Congress" stance and focus on the BJP, that is riding the unstoppable victory wave across India.

Opposition parties on the other hand see Gandhi as the central force in getting united to give a tough fight to BJP.

Gandhi earlier met Left party leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja, besides Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to discuss the need to fight elections jointly by putting up a united face.

Party insiders say hectic negotiations have been going on for quite some time among the opposition parties to field a joint presidential candidate to replace incumbent Pranab Mukherjee.

Mukherjee's term expires on July 25. However the elections will be held before his term expires. Mukherjee assumed office of the Indian President on July 2012.

He was a senior leader of Congress party and occupied several ministerial portfolios before becoming the President of India. He had secured the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) nomination for the country's presidency by defeating the NDA candidate late P A Sangma.

With BJP ruling more than a dozen of India's 29 states, analysts say the numbers have tilted in favor of NDA. The party's win in Uttar Pradesh local elections has consolidated its position.

So far both UPA and NDA have not nominated their presidential probables.

"Right now the opposition parties meeting Gandhi are discussing possibility of fielding a candidate acceptable to all secular opposition parties," the Congress party leader said. "Let there be some consensus on strategy, thereafter the names of likely candidates will come up for discussion."

Gandhi would be meeting more leaders of opposition parties.

Analysts say Gandhi's efforts to get back into action would help Congress party as a whole to a large extent to emerge from the rout it is currently in.

Assertions are rife in Indian political circles that fielding a joint candidate could well be a preface of secular opposition parties to fight BJP-led NDA in the 2019 India's general elections. Endit