Prez poll: BJP distances itself from Sangma

The Bharatiya Janata Party has dissociated itself from any move by P A Sangma to legally challenge Pranab Mukherjee's election as the President in the Supreme Court, saying such a decision would be in his personal capacity.

The party said it has already welcomed Mukherjee as the 13th President of the country and if Sangma plans to file an election petition against his election, it would be in his individual capacity.

"We would like to make it clear that if Sangma takes such a step, then it will be his personal choice. As far as BJP and NDA are concerned, we have welcomed the election of the President of India and we would not like to link this to the party or to the NDA," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

The BJP also made it clear that "it would be his (Sangma's) own propriety as a candidate or an individual" to challenge Mukherjee's nomination and the party was not discussing this at all.

When asked specifically if the party had ended its concerns on the propriety of Mukherjee's nomination, Rudy said, "I think so. It is obvious. We are all a part of this Constitution. It's over (for us)."

Sangma, who lost the presidential election to Mukherjee, has been contemplating filing an election petition challenging the former Union minister's nomination.

The former Lok Sabha Speaker's team had alleged that Mukherjee was holding an office of profit as the chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute, as well as two other institutions, when he filed his nomination papers and his (Mukherjee's) resignation letter contained forged signatures.

When asked about BJP leader Satya Pal Jain being part of Sangma's legal team, which had filed the objections, Rudy said, "The party cannot ask anyone to dissociate and it would be in his personal capacity."