Presidential polls: Mamata to visit Delhi, plans to discuss on joint candidate

All the opposition parties are holding series of meetings to put up a joint candidate for Presidential polls against the candidate of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the Centre

New Delhi, May 24: As West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is again coming to Delhi on Wednesday evening, the opposition parties are expected to have serious deliberations to decide on a joint candidate for the presidential election this week, said a senior opposition leader.

According to the leader, who did not want to be identified, Banerjee will meet leaders from all major parties to build a consensus on the joint candidate for the presidential election.

There will be a series of meetings of opposition leaders this week.

Among the names doing the rounds as consensus candidates of opposition are of former Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

Banerjee met Congress President Sonia Gandhi last week and conveyed that her party was in favour of a consensus candidate for the presidential election.

The term of President Pranab Mukherjee ends in July. The ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, which has clear edge in the presidential election, has not given any inkling so far on its choice of candidate.

Gandhi has been contacting leaders opposed to the ruling BJP to evolve a consensus.

She has spoken to Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad and met JD-U leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah.

The Congress chief is also expected to meet Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati.

DMK leader Kanimozhi also met Gandhi and invited her for her father and DMK chief M. Karunanidhi's 94th birthday celebrations in Chennai on June 3, when another meeting of opposition leaders is likely to take place.

On May 16, Mamata met Sonia Gandhi. The Presidential election was prime agenda in the meeting between the two leaders.

Speaking to the media after the meet, Mamata Banerjee said that the two discussed multiple political issues, "President election was also discussed along with political issues but no discussion was held on the name for the elections," she added.

According to the sources, Sonia Gandhi had invited her on the phone to discuss the presidential elections. Banerjee, who was in Delhi also met with leaders from other parties like Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and other parties.

But the political alignment is creating a kind of uneasiness in Kolkata, where Congress supports the arch- enemy of state's ruling Trinamool Congress. The two parties are trying to play down the impression by shaking hands. It is said that ahead of the meeting, Bengal Congress chief Adhir Choudhury wrote to Sonia Gandhi advising her to deal carefully with Mamata, discussion of anything could injure the Congress in the state.

With President Pranab Mukherjee's term set to end in July, Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi has met leaders of several parties in the last few weeks to discuss the possibility of a joint candidate for the upcoming presidential polls.

OneIndia News ( With Agency inputs)