In the early 1980s Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India. A minister in her cabinet, Basant Sathe was mulling a Presidential form of government by floating the idea as a trial balloon.
Made perfect sense for the Congress Party at that time as Indira Gandhi was the undisputed leader Congress and India. There was nobody, neither in her party nor outside close to her stature. All the opposition parties unitedly pooh-poohed the idea opposing it tooth and nail for the obvious reason. Not a single leader then was in a position to be a counterweight to Indira at nation level. The idea remained stillborn.
Congress must be breathing easy as the concept of a Presidential form of government never saw the day, remaining a non-starter. Now I wonder if the constitution ever changed to that effect then BJP would be reaping the benefits now. Vajpayee could have won in 2004 and Modi now, both hands down. Modi would be relaxing at home now rather than huffing and puffing across the nation in the heat and dust of this election season.
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