Pranab, Purno file nominations for Presidential polls
From Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi: Opposition candidate Purno A Sangma who filed his nomination papers for the July 19 Presidential elections on Thursday, said that it is a ‘victory’ for the tribal unity.
Flanked by chief ministers of several states and national-level leaders, a beaming Purno said he will fight in the name of tribal unity in the country.
“It is a victory of the tribal unity that a tribal is filing his nomination for the post of President,” Purno told reporters before submitting his nomination papers to Rajya Sabha Secretary General, VK Agnihotri, the returning officer for the election.
“I will file my nomination today as a candidate sponsored by the Tribal Forum of India, nominated by the chief ministers of Odisha and Tamil Nadu and backed by BJP and other NDA allies.”
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, BJP president Nitin Gadkari and party leaders LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were among those who were present at the Rajya Sabha Secretariat during the filing of the nomination.
Purno said that the Congress did not welcome the candidature of a tribal for the post of President despite the community having stood by the party.
“We wanted to express that tribals in India have all along stood by the Congress. We had expected that Congress would welcome our request. However, the Congress did not come out in support of the tribals,” he said.
“We sought an appointment to meet Congress chairperson (Sonia Gandhi). We were asked to wait in the Central Hall (of Parliament) consecutively for three days but could not get an appointment. We then met other leaders,” he added.
Purno will now tour all over the country to garner support for his candidature.
Meanwhile, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate Pranab Mukherjee also filed his nomination for the July 19 Presidential poll and sought the ‘blessing of God and cooperation of all’ to get elected to the country’s highest office.
In what was turned into a show of strength, leaders of most UPA allies, except for the Trinamool Congress, were present. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RSD) Lalu Prasad were amongst those who witnessed the ceremony.
“I only wish at this time that we have the blessing of god and cooperation of all at this juncture,” Mukherjee told reporters after filing his nomination at the Rajya Sabha secretariat.
As a candidate for the 14th Presidential election, he said he was being supported by a ‘large number of parties who are supporting UPA government like Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party’ as well as by other parties who did not support the government.
Listing the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Shiv Sena, he said: “I am grateful to them as they have reposed faith in me to occupy the office which was occupied in past by great stalwarts of this country.”
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Ajit Singh, Lok Janshakti Party’s Ram Vilas Paswan, National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, Indian Union Muslim League’s E Ahmed and senior DMK leaders were amongst the other leaders present on the occasion. (With inputs from IANS)