A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made an attempt to bring to its side non-UPA parties, such as AIADMK, for the Presidential poll, the saffron party and its allies are meeting at 11 am on Friday.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meet will be held at senior BJP leader LK Advani’s house today. Advani met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa yesterday in Chennai and both agreed to “coordinate efforts” over the crucial polls.
Sources from the party say the opposition alliance will extend its hand towards more non-UPA parties post-Friday’s meeting of NDA.
Interestingly, talking about Friday’s meeting, Advani said that “it was not unlikely” that the NDA constituents would say the Congress should first decide on its presidential candidate.
After meeting with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari were the Congress’s first and second choices for president.
An hour later, after a meeting with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh, she put forth the names of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Kalam and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
On Thursday, an upset Congress said it could not afford to spare Manmohan Singh and also rejected Kalam and Chatterjee for the Presidential poll.
BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, meanwhile, said the announcement by the SP and Trinamool chiefs showed the allies lacked trust in the prime minister and Gandhi.
“They had raised questions on Manmohan Singh’s leadership earlier, now they have raised question on Sonia Gandhi’s leadership,” Hussain said.
BJP’s core group met Wednesday evening, but refused to comment on its preferences before the Congress announced its official candidate.
Sources say Kalam’s name was discussed in the meeting, and may find favour with the party.
The UPA will also be meeting at 4.00 pm today over the presidential poll.
—-IANS—