Defense Minister Rajnath Singh called Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday. (Image: twitter/file)
BJP has authorized Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and National President JP Nadda to consult with other parties to come up with a consensus on a name
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday spoke to opposition leaders Mamta Banerjee, Mallikarjun Kharge and Akhilesh Yadav To form a consensus for the presidential candidate for the elections to be held on 18 July. Sources said the senior BJP leader called up these leaders the day the opposition held a big meeting to discuss a joint candidate for the polls.
The BJP has authorized Singh and national president JP Nadda to consult with other parties to arrive at a consensus on the presidential candidate. The Defense Minister called up Kharge, Banerjee and Yadav besides some other leaders. Sources said the opposition leaders asked Singh about the BJP-led NDA’s candidate for the presidential election.
During the meeting called by Banerjee, after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar refused to be a candidate, at least two more names surfaced – National Conference (NC) supremo Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi. The presidential election will be held on July 18, while the nomination process began on Wednesday. The tenure of the current Ram Nath Kovind ends on July 24.
(with PTI inputs)
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