New Delhi, April 30
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s chances of a second term as the First Citizen are fast receding, with the BJP remaining non-committal on the issue and a senior CPM leader making it clear today that it is not discussing the issue at all for the present.

Clearly, all political parties and groups are awaiting the outcome of the assembly elections in the critical state of Uttar Pradesh before drawing up their strategy on the presidential nominee.

During his recent trip to France and Greece, Dr Kalam was asked by mediapersons for his comment about a second term in Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President side-stepped the question and the impression gained by the scribes was that he might not be averse for a second term in Rashtrapati Bhavan provided there was unanimity about his candidature.

BJP’s parliamentary party spokesperson Vijay Kumar Malhotra rebutted suggestions that his party was opposed to a second term to any President. “We have never taken this stand since the time of the first President Rajendra Prasad and media reports in this regard were mischievous.”

CPM’s Salim Mohammad, who is the party’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha, told mediapersons this afternoon “we will discuss the issue (of a Presidential candidate) only after the UP poll results”. He was also highly circumspect about his party putting up a candidate for the highest constitutional office in the country.

This assumes significance, as the name of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is being bandied about as a prospective presidential nominee. Thus far, the CPM has no official or unofficial endorsement of Chatterjee’s candidature.

It is apparent why all political parties and groups are keenly awaiting the results of the UP assembly elections, as that would crystallise their strength in the electoral college. As of now that is pretty much hazy, but the current arithmetic shows that if the Congress and the Left parties are together, then their candidate for the high office of President can come through though not by a substantial margin.

Avid Rashtrapati Bhavan watchers insist that the new occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan cannot be from the North, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hails from this part of the country. The candidate is unlikely to be from the South as the incumbent President is from that region. Going by precedence, the candidate to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan this time must, therefore, come from either the western, central or eastern India.

It is no secret that Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is believed to be keen to move to Rashtrapati Bhavan, but the imponderables are many pertaining to his candidature on account of being an erstwhile BJP stalwart. The names of others doing the rounds are that of ICCR president Karan Singh and union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde who lost to Shekhawat in the race for the post of Vice President. The emergence of a dark horse like union defence minister A.K. Anthony, union minority affairs minister A R Antulay, who is believed to have expressed his keenness, coupled with Veerappa Moily.

The Congress is uncertain at this juncture how it wants to move forward with regard to its presidential nominee. More importantly, the Congress will require the support of its known allies to get past the finishing line.

On his part, Dr Kalam has been saying over the past few months that he would like to go back to his first love -- teaching. During his term in the erstwhile Viceregal Lodge, the President has set a record by meeting school children virtually on a daily basis. During a visit to Bangalore, Dr Kalam went as far as proposing that the chief mentor of IT major Infosys Narayanamurthy could be a good choice for the high office of President.

It proved to be trifle embarrassing for Narayanamurthy, who quickly sought to underplay that he was throwing his hat in the ring for the office of President.