Indian Presidential Election 2017: 'Open Mind' If PM Modi Wants To Consult Us On Next President, Says Congress

New Delhi: While the Congress attempts to bring opposition parties together in what it is pegging as a battle of ideologies, party sources also said that it will have an "open mind" if Prime Minister Narendra Modi consults it for a consensus candidate acceptable to all parties for the next President of India. The Congress is also open, the sources said, to supporting a second term for President Pranab Mukherjee, who has said he will consider one only if the government asks him. The Presidential election in India will take place in July this year.

But, they added, they do not see the likelihood of PM Modi approaching the Congress. "Modi will not consult the opposition. He does not consult his own cabinet, leave alone allies and senior BJP leaders...He follows 'my way or the highway' policy," said a Congress leader Randeep Surjewala.

Mr Surjewala told NDTV that both party president Sonia Gandhi and her son and deputy Rahul Gandhi have met leaders of different parties to discuss possible candidates and a "structured meeting" will follow.  

An initial round of meetings was initiated by Sonia Gandhi, who met Left leader Sitaram Yechury, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, whose name has also come up as a possible candidate for President. She has talked to Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Yadav of the RJD on phone.  

Rahul Gandhi has spoken to Mr Pawar and Mr Yechury and also to Mulayam Singh's son Akhilesh Yadav.

The Gandhis will also meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and MK Stalin of the DMK from Tamil Nadu. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has also been contacted.

"We will accept any individual for both President and Vice President, who is acceptable to the country and all parties....The Congress alone can't decide the candidate, no one person can take this decision," Mr Surjewala said.

The Congress leader said his party knows that the BJP-led government will have the numbers it needs for its candidate to win if there is a contest, but, "the idea of one person from one ideology needs to be challenged in the larger interests of the country. Even though we don't have the numbers and we have limitations, in the battles of ideologies we want to extend our bases and support."

He said the party wants a Presidential candidate who "will uphold national interest, the Indian ethos and Indian democratic traditions."  

Presidential elections will be held in July when President Mukherjee's term ends. The vice president will be elected in August. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government is only a few votes short of a majority in the electoral college that elects the President and Vice President . It can cover the gap with support from parties like the AIADMK.