IANS/New Delhi
In a dramatic development, former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma yesterday resigned from the Nationalist Congress Party, saying he was hurt by his party’s failure to back his presidential candidature, firmly setting the stage for a contest with United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee.But with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) divided over Sangma and the Trinamool Congress not keen on him, the veteran Mukherjee still appears to be on the winning track.As the NCP mounted pressure on him to drop out of the presidential race in favour of Mukherjee, Sangma took everyone by surprise when he conveyed his decision to resign through Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy.And Sangma, one of the founders of the NCP, confirmed his decision.A Garo tribal from Meghalaya, Sangma said in Shillong: “The disinclination of the NCP to endorse my candidature amounts to a denial of the aspirations of the tribals of the country. “I cannot ignore the feelings of the tribals that Raisina Hill should not continue to be a distant dream for them,” he said, referring to the area in New Delhi where the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace, is located.“I have resigned accordingly, without any intent whatsoever of embarrassing the party and its leadership,” he said.Sangma, who has been fielded as a presidential candidate by Chief Ministers J Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu and Naveen Patnaik of Odisha, is determined to challenge Mukherjee, sources close to him said.Yesterday evening, Swamy met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani along with Sushma Swaraj and Jaswant Singh. Later, former Advani aide Sudhendra Kulkarni called on Sangma.The BJP’s two key allies - Janata Dal-United and Shiv Sena - want to see Mukherjee as India’s next president.Sangma said he had no option but to quit the NCP, which he founded in 1999 along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar after walking out of the Congress on account of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin.NCP chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said his resignation would be accepted.A confident Purno Sangma said: “I have received promises of support from senior leaders of non-Congress parties, including those in the NDA.”Swamy, who described the former speaker as a close friend, said Sangma invited him to his house to say that he felt insulted after hearing suggestive rumours about him.“He told me he is resigning (because) his self-respect has to be protected,” Swamy said.“He has resigned to protect his self respect, not because he anticipates he will be made the NDA candidate,” he said.Even after the support of Jayalalithaa’s All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazahagam (3.3%) and Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (2.8%), Sangma will get only 22.2% votes more if the NDA decided to vote for him minus the Janata Dal-United and Shiv Sena.The Left is widely expected to root for Mukherjee.