BJP to meet Sonia over Presidential election

A three-member BJP committee formed to evolve a consensus on India's new President will call on Sonia on Friday. File Photo: AFP

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leaders will meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury to discuss about the upcoming presidential election. A three-member BJP committee formed to evolve a consensus on India's new President will call on Sonia on Friday. This will be followed by the BJP panel's meeting Sitaram Yechury. The three members of the committee are union ministers Rajnath Singh, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley. When Naidu on Wednesday spoke to BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra and NCP leader Praful Patel over phone, he was told that the two parties will firm up their stand only after the BJP panel meets them formally. Earlier in the day, Rajnath Singh and Naidu met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Recently, Sonia met various leaders from the Opposition parties to give a tough fight to the ruling NDA's candidate for the post of President. Polls to elect the next President of India will be held on July 17 for which the nomination process will begin from June 14. he counting of votes will take place on July 20 in New Delhi where all the ballot boxes will be brought. Both the ruling NDA and the opposition are yet open their cards on the presidential candidate. While the ruling alliance is likely to announce its nominee in the next few days, the opposition is seeking to unite all non-NDA parties under a common platform to put up a consensus candidate for the presidential election. As per the schedule, June 28 is the last day for nominations, while a candidate can withdraw from the electoral battle till July 1. If there is no consensus between the NDA and the opposition, the number of serious candidates in the fray will be clear by July 1 evening. The tenure of the incumbent, Pranab Mukherjee, comes to an end on July 24. So far 13 persons, including Mukherjee, have held the post, with V V Giri being the president on two occasions. (With inputs from agencies)