M A I N   N E W S

Cancel Pranab’s candidature, he holds office of profit: Sangma
Govt rubbishes allegation, says it’s factually incorrect
KV Prasad/TNS

New Delhi, July 2
The presidential race took an interesting turn today with Opposition-sponsored Purno A Sangma objecting to the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee on the grounds that he holds an Office of Profit as the Chairman of the Kolkata-based Indian Statistical Institute, a charge rejected both by the organisation and the government.

Sangma formally sought rejection of the nomination by the Returning Officer VK Agnihotri today morning even as another person raised technical objection on the signatures affixed by those who proposed and seconded both candidates. The issues would be taken up by the Returning Officer tomorrow after Mukherjee files his response.

Terming the charge as “factually incorrect, legally ill-conceived and untenable”, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal emphasised the UPA candidate had resigned from the post by June 20, days ahead of this resignation from the Union Cabinet.

On its part, the ISI, too, clarified that Mukherjee had resigned last month and that it had inadvertently continued to have his name on the website. Incidentally, later in the evening, the relevant webpage showed a blank against the mention of Chairman while it carried the name till afternoon.

While the Congress political managers swiftly sought to counter the objection, both the UPA and the Opposition traded charges against the rival presidential candidates.

Firing a salvo on behalf of the opposition was Biju Janata Dal president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who sought to know why huge funds were allocated by the Centre to certain States like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and linked it with the July 19 presidential poll.

“Pranab Mukherjee as the Finance Minister had doled out huge sums of money amounting to lakhs of crores to Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Could it be that this money is going because he wanted certain parties like the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (U) and The Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee to support his candidature as the Rashtrapati of India?”, Patnaik, said in Bhubhaneswar after his return from Delhi. The BJD, which along with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, had originally mooted the name of Sangma underscored that being a “distinguished tribal” leader from the North-East and from the minority community, he was the best candidate for the post of the President of India’’.

Seeking to punch holes in the argument, significantly Chief Minister Mukul Sangma from Meghalaya countered that contrary to his claims Purno Sangma had done little for the tribal people in his own area.

Mukul Sangma, who heads the Congress Government said at the Press Club of India function here that “no-one can be a self-styled representative of the tribals and charged that the former Lok Sabha Speaker was trying to misuse his tribal status for his own political gain.

“He [Purno Sangma} has done nothing for the tribals in his area. How can he be the representative of the tribals of the whole country”, the 47-year-old Chief Minister who hails from the same state as the opposition presidential candidate, said.

Interestingly, last week the Congress expelled former Union Minister and tribal leader Arvind Netam from the party for extending support to Purno Sangma. Today, separately in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha Congress Committee spokesman Narsingh Misra charged that the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as the one who has tribal blood on his hand as the police killed over two dozen tribals in the State during his regime.

Sangma’s claim

• In a complaint to Rajya Sabha Secretary General VK Agnihotri, who is the returning officer for the presidential election, Sangma demanded that Mukherjee's candidature be cancelled as he is still the chairman of the Kolkata-based Indian Statistical Institute
• The ISI quickly denied the allegation, saying Mukherjee quit June 20, eight days before he filed his nomination 

Patnaik’s salvo

Pranab Mukherjee as the Finance Minister had doled out huge sums of money amounting to lakhs of crores to Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Could it be that this money is going because he wanted certain parties like the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (U) and the Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee to support his candidature as the Rashtrapati of India?

— Naveen Patnaik, BJD