Even as the former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma is depending on the support of north-eastern states and tribal votes, the UPA insiders feel that he is playing the BJP game in the presidential election.
On the other hand, BSP chief, Ms Mayawati, kept her options open suggesting that her party’s support should not be taken for granted. Mr Sangma, who has virtually become a rebel in the NCP sharing power with the Congress at the Centre and in Maharashtra, is depending on three factors.
First, a tribal fighting the election, second he would get support from seven north-eastern states and Sikkim whose strength in the two Houses of Parliament is 39 and third, he would get support from the non-UPA parties divided between the NDA and rest popularly known as either a federal front or a third front.
But the UPA insiders smell that Mr Sangma is playing the BJP game through the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the AIADMK who were once part of the NDA.
Mr Sangma had earlier split the NCP on the issue of aligning with the NDA a few months before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
Both, the BJD and the Trinamul Congress are seen as prospective allies of the BJP. If the BJP insiders are to be believed, their party’s strategy is to consolidate anti-Congress parties before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. And the Presidential election is the best an opportunity to unite the anti Congress parties in Andhra Pradesh (TDP and TRS), Assam (AGP) and other states.
In West Bengal, the Trinamul Congress led by Ms Mamata Banerjee has been sharing power with the Congress in the state and the Centre as well. But it does not want the Congress to grow at her instance and thus she has been fighting on two fronts— Left Front and the Congress — simultaneously.
In the Hindi heartland, the BJP and the Congress are the major political players in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and to some extent in Jharkhand.
In Bihar, the saffron party is growing with the help of chief minister Nitish Kumar and is looking for an ally in Uttar Pradesh. There it had helped Ms Mayawati to became chief minister atleast thrice.
The Presidential election will see whether bitter rivals — the Samajwadi Party and the BSP, the DMK and the AIADMK, the Janata Dal (U) and the RJD and Trinamul Congress and the Left — would vote together. Meanwhile, Ms Mayawati on Saturday refused to spell out her party’s strategy with regard to the Presidential election saying let the UPA or NDA to declare their nominees first. She said she would back a candidate who fits into her party’s 'line of movement'.
“Our party is keeping an eye on all the parties on the issue of the Presidential nominee. Let us see what candidate UPA and NDA field,” Ms Mayawati told reporters in response to questions in this regard.
Asked about the BJD and the AIADMK announcing Mr Sangma as their choice for the top post.