Who could be the next President of India?

THE REVEAL, News Desk, June 15: Indian President Ram Nath Kovind's term will end on July 24 this year and the election for the next President of India will be held on July 18 after an uneventful term. The counting of votes will take place on July 21 and the new president will take oath on July 25. The million-dollar question is whether Modi can spring a surprise again by bringing in yet another low-profile loyalist into Rashtrapati Bhavan? It is a bit early to predict whether Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah would zero in on a Dalit leader or a Dalit woman leader or one from the OBC, which is currently the flavour of the political season, as the next presidential candidate. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is a former BJP chief. Though never elected to the Lok Sabha, Naidu has been politically astute and quick to grasp the winds. Once among those closest to L K Advani, he made a smooth transition to the Modi camp to emerge as the first Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in the Modi dispensation in May 2014. Talk in BJP is that he would like his seniority and loyalty to be rewarded. The gender card could also be brought into play along with the Dalit card to make double gains. A woman leader as President could raise a bit of a problem to ambitious women leaders in the Opposition having an eye on the Prime Minister’s chair. It is to be mentioned that Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is a frontrunner for the top post but the BJP leadership has yet to take a call on whether incumbent Ram Nath Kovind should be offered a second term. So far, only the first president Rajendra Prasad was elected twice.