NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Shinde was accompanied by Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi and a host of opposition leaders, including Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Somnath Chatterjee and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.
"It is not a token fight. It is a real fight," declared Gandhi soon after Shinde filed the nomination.
As many as four sets of nomination papers were filed on behalf of Shinde, a dalit politician from Maharashtra.
Shinde was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 and again in 1999 from the unreserved constituency of Solapur. He was also a member of the Rajya Sabha in the early 1990s.
While Mulayam Singh said the entire opposition was united in supporting Shinde, Laloo Yadav said, "The BJP's game is now over." Deve Gowda insisted the opposition's candidate would win this time.
Several senior Congress politicians, including Dr Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Ambika Soni, K Natwar Singh and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, were present at the time of filing the nomination.
Shinde, 61, who rose from a humble beginning as an errand boy in the Solapur sessions court, appears to have been chosen by the opposition to cut into the NDA's votes.
By fielding him, the opposition is trying to secure the support of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe members of the ruling combine.
Shinde had been a senior minister in Maharashtra for almost two decades before he moved to Delhi in 1991-92. He had created a record by presenting as many as nine budgets as Maharashtra's finance minister.
Shinde, Congress general secretary for several years, is currently a member of the party's central election committee.
PTI
The 11th President of India: Complete Coverage
The Presidency: A Special Series
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
