YSR Congress has announced support for BJP in the presidential election, further bolstering the ruling camp’s numbers for the key contest and nearly ensuring that a nominee of the ruling party gets to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan in July. Jaganmohan Reddy’s Andhra Pradesh-based outfit, which was non-committal till now, was being watched closely along with AIADMK and BJD on which way they would tilt in the President’s election.

Reddy met PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday and issued a public announcement on backing BJP’s candidate. Coming after strong indications from Telangana Rashtra Samithi that it might support BJP in the contest for Pranab Mukherjee’s successor in July+ , Reddy’s helping hand should all but ensure the appointment of a saffronite as as the next President.

BJP sources on Thursday said their candidate will be an insider, ruling out the possibility of the party veering around to support an independent-minded figure, someone from the civil society sphere, and setting the stage for a “symbolic” ideological fight with the opposition.

With its numbers in the electoral college boosted by the massive UP win, BJP was, in any case, only marginally short of the majority mark in the electoral college comprising elected members of the two Houses of Parliament and state assemblies. Support from YSR Congress and indication that TRS might follow suit has virtually killed the contest.

Now, only BJD has not taken a call yet though Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has been approached by Congress as well as other opposition leaders like chief ministers Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee as well as CPM chief Sitaram Yechury. The presidential election had always appeared an uphill task for the united opposition but it slowly seems to be becoming an impossible battle given the drift of key regional outfits.

YSR Congress’s decision to side with BJP implies that the principal poles in Andhra politics will stand on the same side in the presidential polls and vote for the saffron candidate. TDP, which rules Andhra, is a BJP ally, while Jaganmohan is a rival of CM Chandrababu Naidu and nurses the ambition of replacing him.