The Vice Crackers

The election is over a year away but the stakes are so high that lobbying for the job of vice-president of India has already begun. Last month, Najma Heptullah, Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson and a perennial candidate for the post, hosted a spate of dinner parties. The event was social and innocuous in itself. But those looking for a reason understood that building goodwill was Najma's first step towards declaring her candidature. Another hopeful is Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who has reportedly also indicated his desire to shift to New Delhi.

Of course, Abdullah would like to head straight to Rashtrapati Bhavan but isn't averse to the almost mandatory stopover at 6, Maulana Azad Road, the official residence of the vice-president. And then there is what is popularly known as the 'Madhavrao Scindia formula' doing the rounds. This envisages Dr Karan Singh as president and L.M. Singhvi, former high commissioner to the UK, as vice-president. Singh would be the Congress candidate and Singhvi the bjp's.

But the bjp knows that the nda would never agree to a Sangh parivar nominee and is prepared to support dmk chief K. Karunanidhi's nominee, Murasoli Maran. There has also been speculation in newspapers on Tamil Nadu governor Fatima Beevi's prospects. However, she is not likely to find much support outside the aiadmk.

These are just a few of the names said to be in the reckoning. Though still too early for the various parties to take a decision, it has not stopped individual aspirants from testing the waters. The composition of the electoral college that chooses the president and the vice-president is such that no single party has an outright majority. (The president is chosen by elected members of both houses of Parliament and members of the legislative assemblies. The vice-president is elected by both houses of Parliament.)

However, according to tradition, the ruling party tries to evolve a consensus on both names, failing which there is an election. And the new president takes oath on July 24, 2002, and the vice-president on August 20, 2002. But since the two posts are interlinked, the decision for both is taken almost simultaneously.

The politics of the job is played out at various levels. First, there is tradition. Constitutionally, there is no bar on allowing the president a second stint at Rashtrapati Bhavan. But India's first president, Dr Rajendra Prasad, was the only incumbent who managed two terms. Others, such as Shankar Dayal Sharma, Giani Zail Singh and V.V. Giri all reportedly wanted a second term but did not get it. So far, K.R. Narayanan is not said to have shown any keenness for another term. In fact, MPs claim that he has hinted that he would not be seeking a second term.

Tradition also dictates that the vice-president usually gets to be president. But there have been notable exceptions. B.D. Jatti, G.S. Pathak and M. Hidayatullah didn't get to be president. This has raised hopes of candidates like Karan Singh, who makes no secret of his ambitions. "I am not a candidate for vice-presidency. But it would be an honour and privilege if I was chosen president," he told Outlook.

One dark horse in the race for the distinguished constitutional position could be Maharashtra governor P.C. Alexander. Unlike Karan Singh, who antagonised the bjp by his very personal campaign against A.B. Vajpayee during the last Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow, Alexander has a good equation with both the bjp and the Congress.Alexander also has had a smooth stay there, despite the turmoil that Maharashtra politics itself has been hostage to in the last decade or so.

Choosing a vice-president can be a complicated affair. Each party has more than one aspirant for the job and the lobbying gets petty inner-party politics out to the forefront. Najma's candidature is a case in point. During the last vice-presidential elections, she had more support from outside the Congress than from within. To undermine her selling point as a woman and a minority candidate, her detractors within the party floated names of two others who fit this bill: Margaret Alva and Mohsina Kidwai. In the end, however, Sitaram Kesri, then Congress president, supported the United Front government's choice, Krishan Kant. Kesri told his partymen that he voted for Kant because "inki ma charkha chalati thi (his mother used to work the charkha)"!

To counter this, Najma's supporters pointed to her Maulana Azad legacy but to no avail. Kesri was not interested. The truth, say party sources, was that he had always associated Najma with Sharad Pawar and suspected her loyalty. This time around, too, Najma is in the running. "Whatever will be, will be," she told Outlook, when asked about her chances.

As expected, she has more support from outside her party than within. She does not have a good equation with Sonia Gandhi's coterie. But others outside the party endorse Najma's stand. "My party is yet to take a decision but my personal choice is to support the lady," confirmed the cpi(m)'s Somnath Chatterjee, when asked to choose between Abdullah, Najma and Singhvi.

And despite Karan Singh's contention that he isn't interested in being VP, "he is just posing for a presidential candidature so that he gets the consolation prize of vice-presidency", a Congress MP remarked acidly.

On his part, the bjp's Singhvi is reticent. "It would not be appropriate for me to comment," he said, when asked if he was in contention for vice-presidency. But Singhvi hopes that with his son Abhishek Singhvi well placed in the Congress, the main opposition party could well be favourably inclined to a consensus on his name.

In a tightly-sewn-up electoral arithmetic, the Congress and bjp both realise they need their allies' support as well. Which is why the bjp can't push for an outright parivar man. Consensus then seems to settle on Maran. "Most of the nda will support him," says a bjp MP. There are two factors here. In Maran's favour: with most presidential aspirants from the north, a VP nominee from the south gets leverage. For another: Maran would then make a graceful exit from state politics to make way for Stalin.

The Congress has its share of problems in mustering support for an outright Congress nominee. "We are not going to support either a bjp or a Congress candidate. Farooq Abdullah is all right. He is from j&k and a Muslim," says Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh. But not everyone shares this view. "Farooq has great symbolic value. But what about his flamboyant image?" asks a somewhat irate Congressman.

What also raises the stakes is that the vice-president also officiates as the Rajya Sabha chairperson. "The vice-president has to be a neutral umpire. We would like to have somebody who is not siding with the government," says cpi(m) Rajya Sabha member Nilotpal Basu. Some Opposition MPs feel that Kant played up to the treasury benches when the Congress wanted a vote on the Tehelka debate in the House."At times, it is suspected that a vice-president has played a partisan role but the VP usually wants to run for president and so will be careful," explains Rajya Sabha MP Kuldip Nayar.

Then of course, there is the usual and blatant show of one-upmanship to grab the minority votebank. If the Congress suggests Dr Manmohan Singh, the nda offers its own available Sikh candidate in S.S. Barnala. The Congress in turn has said it will counter Karunanidhi's name with one from the south, maybe K. Karunakaran. The speculation goes round and round.

This could well be the curtain-raiser. The candidates have just begun to brush up their curriculum vitae and extend the dinner diplomacy to more meaningful areas. With stakes that could lead right up to Rashtrapati Bhavan, no amount of lobbying can ever be enough. And one year seems like too short a time to canvass and make the moves that can get you into office.