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Kalam likely to say no to 2nd term
Published on Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 13:55, Updated on Fri, Jun 22, 2007 at 01:12 in section
Tags: President Election, Kalam , New Delhi
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New Delhi: President A P J Abdul Kalam will not get involved in the presidential election and is unhappy that his name has been dragged in, sources have told CNN-IBN.
The Third Front, an alliance of eight regional parties on Monday, announced that they would request Kalam to fight for a second term but he is going to decline the alliance leaders when he meets them on Wednesday.
Kalam has a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday evening and is expected to announce his decision.
Support for Kalam is strong though. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is part of the opposition NDA, has said that Kalam was her “first choice†for the President’s post.
"Kalam is our first choice for Presidential election. When I attended a meeting of the NDA about a month back, I had said this," Banerjee told PTI in Kolkata.
"We want a person like Abdul Kalam who is impartial and has a stature," she said. "If President Kalam contests the presidential poll, we will support him. Even presidential candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has stated that he would be happy if consensus can be achieved on the candidature of incumbent A P J Abdul Kalam."
Kalam’s no would leave two candidates in the race: UPA’s Pratibha Patil and Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who has the NDA’s support.
Pratibha Patil home, almost
In an electoral college of 10,98,882, the UPA, Left and the BSP's tally of votes comes to 5,70,000. So Pratibha Patil is well ahead of the halfway mark.
The BJP-led NDA's votes come to 3,54,689. Out of this, the Shiv Sena commands 22,950 votes. So far, indications are that the Sena might actually go along with UPA nominee Pratibha Patil because she comes from Maharashtra. In that case, it could be a bigger setback for Shekhawat.
The Third Front, which includes the AIADMK, the Samajwadi Party, the Telugu Desam, the Indian National Lok Dal and the Asom Gana Parishad, has 1,06,281 votes. This group also has the support of former PM Deve Gowda’s JD (S) party.
Patil is therefore set to sail through.
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Why not Pratibha Patil this time. Everyone should be given the chance and she deserves to be the President of
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Mr Kalam should have 2nd Trem as President. So far he has done considerable work. Only he (due to political
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fortunately if kalam wuld have read the indian constitution then he wont have agreed for the first term itself but
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Namaskara! There is so much tittle-tattle about this Presidential post. I think we are forgetting one prominent name and that
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Let Kalam do what he does best. Don't waste such an eminient scientist in Rashtrapati Bhawan. He does not have
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