Chennai:
In a bid to build consensus for the Congress-led UPA government's candidate for the presidential election to be held in July, the UPA's trusted Lieutenant, Defence Minister AK Antony, met DMK Chief M Karunanidhi at his CIT Colony residence in Chennai this morning.
DMK leader TR Baalu, Karunanidhi's daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, her mother Rajathiammal and TKS Elangovan were present with Karunanidhi for the meeting.
Describing his meeting with the DMK president as "fruitful", Mr Antony said, "Congress chief Sonia ji asked me to go to Chennai and meet DMK president Karunanidhi to discuss about the present political situation. So, I met him, I paid him respect and had a detailed discussion about the present situation. I can tell you that I had a very fruitful discussion with him. He is the senior-most leader of the country and he is one of the closest ally of the UPA. And we always value his advice."
"What we discussed, I'll convey that only to the Congress president. That I will not share outside," the Defence Minister added.
Usually, it is Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who holds talks with its southern ally. The arrival of Mr Antony has fuelled speculation that Mr Mukherjee may also be a name considered for Rashtrapati Bhawan.
The Union Defence Minister is said to have conveyed one of the UPA's choices - Vice President Hamid Ansari to the DMK patriarch. Sources say the DMK which has always projected itself as pro-minority, is likely to sail along.
The DMK has 18 Lok Sabha MPs, 7 Rajya Sabha MPs and 23 MLAs.
The move comes a few days after Congress held talks with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar.
On the other side of the divide, there have been unconfirmed reports that the AIADMK has been approached by other parties to back the candidature of former President Abdul Kalam.
The Congress is walking a political tightrope as it tries to create a consensus with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) on the bench and the Trinamool saying that it will wait till the poll dates are announced. Trinamool's support is crucial for the victory of a UPA candidate.
The President is elected by members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and all state legislatures or Vidhan Sabhas by a system of proportional representation through single transferable vote. The ballot paper lists all candidates standing for election and the voters list them in order of preference. A threshold number of votes, known as the 'quota' is set, which candidates have to achieve to be elected. For presidential elections, the quota is set at one more than half the number of votes.
The election is designed to provide parity between members of parliament and members of state assemblies. The number of MLAs or elected representatives in state assemblies depends on the population of that state. The presidential election assigns a weightage to the votes cast by each state, so that finally, the states have an equal say with Parliament in who becomes President. Without this system, the President would be elected purely on the basis of the party or group that has the maximum numbers in Parliament