As President Pranab Mukherjee prepares to leave his office on July 25, the hunt for the new President has already begun. It is now being reported that the opposition leaders have approached Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson and diplomat Gopalkrishna Gandhi to be their candidate for the presidentship.
“Yes, I have been spoken to. But the conversations have been of a very preliminary nature. It would not be right for me to say anything beyond that,” Indian Express quoted Gandhi as saying. The daily reported that even Gandhi did not give out many details apart from that he had been approached, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress are allegedly rooting for Gopalkrishna Gandhi to the opposition’s candidate.
In 2012, Gopalkrishna Gandhi had turned out Mamata Banerjee’s proposal for contesting for the post of vice-president. While there has been official confirmation on who the opposition candidate for the President is, the final decision is expected to be taken in a month’s time. Apart from Gandhi, the other names that have been doing the round include, ex Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Draupadi Murmu, LK Advani, Sumitra Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had recently affirmed that he wanted RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to be the next President of the country.
“For the first time, we (BJP-led NDA) have received such a strong political mandate. The formation of a Hindu Rashtra is the primary objective and therefore Mohan Bhagwat should become the next President of India,” Thackeray had said.
