The BJP-led NDA has named senior party leader and Former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh as its vice-presidential candidate. The decision came after a meeting of party leaders at the home of LK Advani to decide on its candidate that it would field against the UPA’s nominee for Vice President, Hamid Ansari.
The NDA is fielding a candidate despite Mr Ansari looking comfortable on numbers because it wants to record the fact that it does not favor a second term for the Vice President. The party is still upset with Mr Ansari for the way he conducted the Lokpal debate in an extended winter session of Parliament late last year.
Mr Ansari’s candidacy was announced by the UPA on Saturday after a meeting of all its allies. All of them, save Mamata Banerjee, have pledged support to him as have parties like Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Maywati’s BSP. Even without Ms Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, which has said it is yet to decide, the Congress and its allies have 444 MPs, much more than the 396 votes they need to get Mr Ansari that second term as Vice President.
The NDA is fielding a candidate despite Mr Ansari looking comfortable on numbers because it wants to record the fact that it does not favor a second term for the Vice President. The party is still upset with Mr Ansari for the way he conducted the Lokpal debate in an extended winter session of Parliament late last year.
