NDA will contest Pratibha Patil

New Delhi: The NDA is trying to reach out to the Third Front in the battle for Rashtrapati Bhavan. It has made up its mind after Atal Behari Vajpayee made it absolutely clear that there was no question of agreeing to the UPA nominee, Pratibha Patil's candidature.

The BJP has said that Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat will contest the presidential polls. The BJP said the way Patil was finally picked to run for presidency only brought out the internal differences in the UPA.

Hours after the UPA named Prathibha Patil as their candidate, the Vice-President also made his intentions clear that he is not going to leave the field.

He met former prime minister AB Vajpayee and other leaders of the Opposition alliance following BSP chief Mayawati's announcement, is 'all determined' to fight the election to the highest office.

"He is fully prepared," the NDA leader, who requested anonymity, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Shekhawat drove down to Vajpayee's residence for a hurriedly-convened meeting, attended by BJP leaders L K Advani, Rajnath Singh and Jaswant Singh and JD(U)'s Sharad Yadav.

The NDA, which was scheduled to hold a meeting on Friday on Presidential elections, postponed it for June 18.

"The NDA will meet on June 18 and take a decision," the BJP chief told reporters in brief remarks when asked who the opposition alliance would field or support as a candidate for Presidency.

"News reports suggest Shekhawat wants to contest (these elections) as an independent," Singh said.

He said Vajpayee has been authorised by the NDA to decide on the alliance's stand in this regard.

On Tuesday, the BJP accused the Congress of using tactics to install a loyalist of its chief Sonia Gandhi in the highest office as Mayawati announced her support to the UPA's candidate in the fray.

Figures stacked in the Presidential race:
Congress	280,000
UPA allies	141,000
Left	111,000
UPA total	532,000
BSP	57,200
NDA, SP, Others	511,000

<table width="248" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="2"> <tr bgcolor="#AE111D"> <td height="20" valign="middle" bgcolor="#DB1524"><div align="center"><strong class="Wtext11">THE NUMBER GAME</strong></div></td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#e7e7e7"> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" />In an electoral college of 10,98,882, the UPA and Left have 5,11,965 votes.</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" /> The BSP's vote share is 58,300. The candidate backed by UPA could easily get over 5.70 lakh votes if BSP's voteshare is combined with the UPA.</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" /> The NDA candidate is expected to bag only 3,54,689 votes, given the strength of BJP and its allies.</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" /> The unattached parties like AIADMK, Samajwadi Party, RLD, TDP, AGP and MDMK, which recently floated a "Third Front", carry a total of 1,06,281 votes. </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" /> Even if the votes of the newly floated third front is counted with the NDA, it can garner only 4,60,970 votes, leaving it short by over one lakh votes as compared to the UPA candidate.</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="248" height="20" valign="middle" class="Btext11 pLeft10"><img src="/pix/common/bullet.gif" width="7" height="7" alt="bullet" /> The remaining parties have around 67,647 votes. </td> </tr></table>

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