Kick off campaign from State, NCP tells Sangma

BHUBANESWAR: The State unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has invited former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma to kick off his campaign from Odisha as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was the first to propose his name for the post of President.NCP Legislature Party leader Amar Prasad Satpathy said that the MLAs from the State had requested Sangma to visit Odisha first. As an eminent tribal leader, it is expected that Sangma will get all round support from the State, he said.The NCP delegation from the State again met Sangma on Wednesday at his residence in New Delhi to apprise him of the meeting they had with party president Sharad Pawar. The national president said that NCP would sail with the UPA as it is a constituent at the Centre, but he was not averse to the stand taken by the Odisha leaders.The State leaders met national general secretary DP Tripathy and apprised him of the stand of the Odisha unit. “We apprised Tripathy of our support to Sangma and reasons behind it,” Satpathy said and added that Sangma is the presidential candidate.Satpathy said Sangma had assured the State leaders that he would come to Odisha to campaign. But the date is yet to be fixed. The Odisha delegation will return from New Delhi on Thursday.Sangma’s candidature was supported by AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa.The former Lok Sabha speaker had met Naveen in New Delhi on Tuesday. Describing Sangma as a distinguished tribal leader, Naveen had requested all political parties to support his candidature. However, except BJD and AIADMK, no other political party has announced support to Sangma till now.