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Mudslinging over the Presidential election began on Tuesday, soon after the nominations of both Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Mr P.A. Sangma were accepted.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has accused the United Progressive Alliance candidate, Mr Mukherjee, of “fabricating” his resignation letter from the post of Chairman of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata.
The party said the UPA was indulging in “illegal activities” to win the election. The National Democratic Alliance-backed candidate, Mr Sangma had complained to the Election Commission that as chairman of ISI, Mr Mukherjee was holding an ‘office of profit’.
Legal battle
The BJP General Secretary, Mr Ananth Kumar and Mr Sangma’s advocate and former BJP MP, Mr Satpal Jain, provided copies of Mr Mukherjee’s reply to Mr Sangma’s charges and his resignation letter to reporters here on Tuesday. They said signatures of Mr Mukherjee did not match in the two letters.
Mr Kumar said the onus was on Mr Mukherjee and the ISI President, Mr M G K Menon, to prove that the letter was not fabricated.
Hinting that a legal battle was awaiting the UPA, Mr Kumar added that the BJP would pursue the matter “in all possible” ways. “Mr Mukherjee failed to produce official records to prove that he had resigned from the ISI,” Mr Jain said. He said the post of Chairman, ISI, was not an office of profit for MPs, but candidates for the post of President should not hold any offices of profit.
Earlier, the Returning Officer of the election, Mr V.K Agnihotri rejected Mr Sangma’s objections and accepted Mr Mukherjee’s nomination. “Only Mr Mukherjee and Mr Sangma are in the fray after their nomination papers were found valid in all respects. The final list of candidates will be made after the last day of withdrawal of nominations on Wednesday,” he told reporters.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr P. K. Bansal presented Mr Mukherjee’s argument before the Returning Officer along with the Home Minister, Mr P Chidambaram. Mr Bansal said the resignation was forwarded to the President of the ISI and he accepted it on June 20.
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