Sangma to get copy of order on Pranab

BJP-backed presidential candidate PA Sangma will get a copy of the returning officer’s order clearing UPA-nominee Pranab Mukherjee’s nomination.

BJP-backed presidential candidate PA Sangma will get a copy of the returning officer’s order clearing UPA-nominee Pranab Mukherjee’s nomination. The order has rejected his charge that Mukherjee held an office of profit as the chairman of the Council of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.

“He has been conveyed this over phone and is likely to get the copy of the order tonight (Wednesday night). We will study it and take a decision on the future course of action,” BJP leader SS Ahluwalia told HT.

Meanwhile, agencies said the chief election commissioner (CEC) had asked the returning officer to give a copy of the order to the candidate. “We need the order to study the basis on which our objections have been rejected…,” said a BJP leader.

Sangma had earlier in the day written to the returning officer that he be given a copy of the letter. BJP leaders said the returning officer had told them that there was no need for the CEC’s nod to give the order. They added that the CEC told Subrahmanian Swami, who called him up, there was no need for permission from his office.

Swami and BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, Ahluwalia, Ananth Kumar and Satya Pal Jain met Sangma Wednesday to discuss the poll strategy. The government, however, dismissed the BJP’s objections. Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal labelled them frivolous and preposterous.

Agnivesh slams ‘tribal Sangma’

Sangma’s bid to project himself as a tribal candidate came under attack from activist Swami Agnivesh, who sought to know on Wednesday what he thought about the Chhattisgarh encounter that allegedly killed tribals who were not Maoists.

“Why is Sangma not finding time to go there in solidarity with the tribals? He enjoys support from the BJP, which runs the Chhattisgarh government?”