PA Sangma harps on history to support victory claim

BHUBANESWAR: Presidential nominee PA Sangma on Sunday claimed that he would win the race to Raisina Hill by drawing parallels with the polls in 1969. "This fight is going to be like the one in 1969 when V V Giri defeated the official Congress candidate, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy," he told MPs and MLAs of the ruling BJD.

The former Lok Sabha speaker was in Bhubaneswar to canvass for the July 19 polls. He also addressed a separate meeting of BJP legislators.

He said the 2012 polls had another similarity with the contest between Giri and Reddy. "In the past, people did not know about what was going on in the
Presidential election except for in 1969. This time too, it has gone beyond the lawmakers. There is lot of interest among the general public and this kind of involvement is unbelievable."

Sangma claimed that as many as 18 political parties have extended support to him as of now. "Many other parties are internally supporting us. Some will announce their support soon. Others may not formally make an announcement, but I assure you that they are with us," he said.

The tribal leader cited examples of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi confiding to him about people asking MLAs to vote for Sangma or face rejection in the next Assembly election.

"When Congress announced Pranab's candidature, people had started laughing at time, terming that it was going to be a token fight. But when BJP took the decision to support me, Congress became nervous," he said.

Talking to mediapersons later, Sangma said the Presidential polls was not on party lines and MLAs and MPs will caste their votes according to their conscience. "It's going to be a historic fight," he said.

Sangma said the ongoing fight for the country's top position has given rise to emergence of new political trends. Neither the UPA nor the NDA were the same after announcement of candidates. On political rivals BJP and BJD both supporting his candidature, Sangma said such a situation has emerged in most parts of the country. Arch rivals Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh will vote for the same candidate. Similarly, opposition Left parties in West Bengal and Congress will be together in voting for Pranab.

Also on Sunday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who was the first to propose Sangma's name for the President's post, sought to assert that regional parties were taking a lead in raising national issues. "It is interesting that regional parties are taking a lead in raising people's hopes," the CM told a gathering of his party colleagues that after he proposed Sangma's name for the country's top post on May 17, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalithaa had come forward to back his nominee. Other parties such as the BJP, AGP and the Akali Dal followed suit, he added.

src: Times of India