Sharad meets Sonia amid Prez nominee talks

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 25

Amid ongoing Opposition parleys over a joint candidate for the upcoming Presidential elections, senior JD-U leader and Rajya Sabha member Sharad Yadav today met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is leading the consultations.

Although Yadav described the meeting as a courtesy call, it assumes political significance in the wake of a recent meeting between JD-U president Nitish Kumar and Gandhi.

Nitish is learnt to have discussed the possibility of a united Opposition nominee for the President’s election and the name of Sharad is learnt to be among probable nominees that would invite wider acceptance across parties.

Yadav’s meeting with Gandhi today is being seen in this recent context of the JD-U chief’s outreach with Congress and earlier with several other Opposition parties, including CPI, CPM, AAP and TMC.

Top CPI leader D Raja today admitted to a “convergence of thought in the Opposition camp about fielding a joint candidate”. Raja, however, said the discussions on a common candidate for the election will begin only now. Congress leader Manish Tewari also said today that consultations on the issue of Presidential polls are evolving and the deliberations on the nominee will start now.