New Delhi, June 14: In an attempt to secure victory in the Presidential election, the BJP is eyeing the support of non-Congress opposition parties.
In an electoral college of around 10.86 lakh votes for the Presidential poll, the BJP and its alliance partners in the NDA are a little short of the halfway mark.
To comfortably cross the halfway mark, the BJP is banking on Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
The YSRCP has over 40,000 votes while the BJD has over 30,000 votes. With the support of either BJD or YSRCP, the BJP candidate will comfortably win the elections but the saffron camp is trying to increase its votes with the support of other smaller and non-Congress opposition parties.
To arrive at a consensus to win the support of the other parties, the BJP has authorised its national President J.P. Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Nadda and Singh will hold consultations with the NDA partners, UPA constituents and even Independent MPs, among others.
Sources said that Nadda and Singh’s consultations will focus on building consensus on a proposed BJP-led NDA nominee for the President’s post.
A BJP insider said that there are many smaller non-Congress opposition parties across the country which, if approached, will vote for the BJP candidate.
“There are many parties which are fighting against the Congress. We will try to get their support to increase our winning margin in next month’s Presidential poll,” he said.
It is learnt that more BJP leaders will join the consultation process as per requirement to get the support of non-Congress opposition parties.
A senior party leader said that the sole purpose of the entire effort is to ensure a bigger victory margin than the last time.
The Presidential poll will be held on July 18 and counting of votes will take place on July 21. The last day of filing nomination is June 29.