Sangma resigns from NCP, likely to be Opposition candidate for Rashtrapati Bhavan

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA)’s presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee will have to face a contest now that former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Sangma has resigned from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to enable him to make a bid to be the next incumbent of Rashtrapati Bhavan without “embarrassing” his party.

Mr. Sangma’s resignation, addressed to NCP president — and Union Agriculture Minister – Sharad Pawar has been accepted, freeing him from the pressure of his party not to file his nomination and support Mr. Mukherjee’s candidature instead.

In a press note, Mr. Sangma has reiterated the fact that the Tribal Forum of India has nominated him for election to the office of the President, a nomination that has been endorsed by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Biju Janata Dal. He also claims that he has “received promises of support from senior leaders of non-Congress parties, including those in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).”

With former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s first choice for First Citizen, announcing on Tuesday that he does not wish to take a second shot for the keys of Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mr.Sangma’s chances of securing the support of the BJP have brightened. Of the BJP’s allies in the NDA, the Shiv Sena has already declared it will back Mr. Mukherjee; the Janata Dal-United, currently engaged in a war of words with the BJP and RSS, party sources say, is not very keen on Mr. Sangma; Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Chief Prakash Singh Badal has stated publicly that his party will go by what the NDA decides.

Mr. Sangma telephoned West Bengal chief minister — and Trinamool Congress chief — Mamata Banerjee on Saturday to seek her support, even though the two share a troubled history: in January 2004, Mr. Sangma sought to split the NCP after Mr. Pawar became close to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, but when he lost the battle for the NCP election symbol, he merged his faction with the Trinamool. But in February 2006, he was re-elected as a NCP candidate after he quit the Trinamool. But now, with Ms. Banerjee’s bid to prop up Mr. Kalam as a Presidential candidate having failed, and her opposition to Mr. Mukherjee’s candidature still unwavering, Mr. Sangma’s overtures to her might make some impact.

Mr. Sangma’s bid for the presidency has complicated matters for his daughter, Agatha Sangma, who now faces the prospect of being turfed out of the union council of ministers – she is the MoS for rural development -- if she campaigns for her father, a senior NCP leader indicated. “If she campaigns, we will have no option but to show her the door,” he said shortly after Mr. Sangma resigned from the party, a day ahead of a meeting of the NCP Parliamentary Board. The Congress, however, chose not to comment on the matter, with party spokesman Rashid Alvi saying, “Congress is not going to advise the NCP on what to do about Agatha.”

Simultaneously, Mr. Sangma’s son and Leader of the Opposition in Meghalaya Assembly Conrad K. Sangma told journalists on Wednesday that his father’s resignation from the NCP was a “personal” issue and would therefore “not have any impact on the membership of the NCP in Meghalaya.”