New DelhI, May 3: A Congress nominee, either finance minister Pranab Mukherjee or Vice-President Hamid Ansari, seems set to be elected President, with all indications suggesting that the BJP-led opposition may not be able to put up a credible fight in the polls to determine who should replace Pratibha Patil.
Although BJP scrambled to contain the damage from the "unilateral" declaration to oppose any Congress candidate and party chief Nitin Gadkari announced that he would soon call a meeting of the NDA to hash out a common posture, the opposition appears to have lost the initiative to Congress.
For one, there were doubts that Gadkari's fence mending endeavour would appease the anger of JD(U) which on Tuesday had reacted angrily to Sushma Swaraj's statement virtually declaring that it would now act independently of the BJP.
JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav said on Wednesday that the party would prefer widest possible consensus on the next President: a position contrary to the "no Congress nominee, please" that Swaraj articulated on Monday.
The reaction from JD(U)'s powerhouse of Bihar was even strident, with indications suggesting that CM Nitish Kumar could very well tilt towards Ansari even if BJP sticks to its position not to support a Congress candidate.
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