Modi’s Informal Think Tank Considers Next Ideal President, Vice President Of India

With the five-year terms of India’s President and Vice President ending this July, rumour mills have gone into overdrive over likely successors respectively. And yet, political stakeholders know full well it is near impossible to predict Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Delhi-based senior journalist R Rajagopalan says an “informal, unofficial” committee (read think tank) was formed including Union Ministers, Bhupendra Yadav, Piyush Goyal and Nitin Gadkari to scope out all aspects, however, weighty as may be. How will the current selection process differ from the 2017 President and Vice President elections? On the political front now, the Shiv Sena and Akali Dal are no longer allies of BJP, the J&K Assembly is non-existent and a weakened AIADMK cannot be counted upon. Wags predict this time it may be a woman from the South? Definitely not Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in such a case, with her long drawn To Do List. Some deduce it could well be Tamilisai Soundararajan, Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor Of Puducherry. Political analysts say the strategy seems fool proof as no party would generally oppose a woman SC candidate. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s name is also doing the rounds while the Grand Old party is mooting Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge’s name.