Pawar as Oppn Prez Candidate? Sanjay Singh meets NCP Chief as AAP Throws Weight behind Consensus Candidate

The contest for Presidential polls is heating up with veteran politician, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar emerging as possible consensus candidate for the opposition.

After Mallikarjun Kharge delivered Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s message to Pawar to discuss the possibility of like-minded parties coming together to field a common candidate, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh met the latter at his residence in Mumbai.

The meeting between Singh and Pawar took place at 4 pm and lasted approximately 30 minutes.

“We want him to fight,” a source said, when asked whether Pawar’s name as the Presidential candidate was discussed in the meeting.

While the NCP chief himself is tight-lipped about pitching himself for the top post, sources indicated he was “positive”, even though “no decision” has been taken yet.

It may be recalled that Gandhi already had discussions with Pawar and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, among others, on the issue of Presidential elections.

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has called for a meeting of 22 opposition parties in the national capital on June 15 for deliberations on joint opposition candidate for Presidential polls. It includes chief ministers of Delhi, Kerala, Odisha, Telengana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Punjab.

Banerjee has also invited presidents of 10 political parties, including the Congress, NCP, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal, general secretaries of Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) and former Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and former PM Devegowda.

It remains to be seen, however, how many of these leaders will actually attend the meeting. For instance, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to be in Punjab on June 15.

The opposition parties have 5,40,000 votes, while the National Democratic Alliance has 4,90,000 votes. However, the hurdle for opposition leaders is to stay united, particularly with many of them jostling for the leadership space within the opposition.

Parties like the Biju Janata Dal, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party may, yet again, position themselves to give advantage to the NDA.

Elections for the next President of India will be held on July 18 and counting of votes will be on July 21.

Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here.