Presidential polls: Jayalalithaa seeks support for PA Sangma

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa has asked political parties to back PA Sangma for the post of President.

Ms Jayalalithaa spoke to BJP leader LK Advani, CPM leader Prakash Karat, CPI leader AB Bardhan, TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav asking them to support the candidature of Mr Sangma.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister had held consultations with her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik besides within her party before announcing her support to Mr Sangma, who himself had called on her on May 15.

Ms Jayalalithaa had announced her support for the NCP leader on Thursday and followed it up with an appeal to all parties to rise above political differences and back a leader from the tribal community for the highest office.

Mr Sangma, however, said his party chief Sharad Pawar told him at a meeting that since his party is a part of the UPA government, its stand on the issue will be consistent with it.

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Mr Pawar's party is a key ally of the Congress-led UPA at the Centre since May 2004. The two parties also share power in Maharashtra since 2009. Mr Pawar had recently met Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who has been holding consultations with UPA constituents and allies over the presidential election.

Mr Sangma's addition to list of names under consideration for the Presidential polls comes at a time when both Congress and BJP are trying to rally support from their allies and evolve a consensus on a candidate.

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The elections will be held in July, but no dates have been announced yet.

The Congress had reportedly shortlisted Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Vice-President Hamid Ansari as the candidate of the ruling UPA coalition, though Congress President Sonia Gandhi has said that no names have been finalised yet. In the two weeks, the Congress, which leads the UPA, has been carefully consulting its different allies to ensure they will back its presidential candidate.

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The election for President is a significant battle ahead of the general elections in 2014, and offers the BJP a chance to take on the Congress. The BJP has said it will not support a Congress-backed candidate. But even its key ally, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has indicated that his party would be in favour of supporting a candidate who is accepted by most parties.

The President is selected by a system of proportional representation. The votes of MPs are put at par with those of elected members in different state legislatures. This gives considerable say to regional parties who have delivered impressive results in recent elections like Ms Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party.