JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh to hold talks with NDA, UPA on presidential candidate
New Delhi, June 12
The BJP today authorised party president JP Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to engage with the NDA and UPA constituents in discussions on the candidate for the July 18 Presidential elections.
A party statement said the two leaders “will soon begin their parleys”. Singh will first meet Nadda, most likely on Monday, to deliberate on the structure of the talks. The attempt is to build a consensus on the candidate for election to the highest constitutional office of India.
In 2017, the BJP had similarly authorised veteran M Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh to hold deliberations with all parties. Naidu had later gone on to become the Vice-President. Sources were tightlipped about any probable names on the BJP’s mind.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, meanwhile, has sent out invites for the June 15 meeting to 22 leaders, including eight CMs. They are Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), K Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana), MK Stalin (Tamil Nadu), Uddhav Thackeray (Maharashtra), Hemant Soren (Jharkhand) and Bhagwant Mann (Punjab).
The TMC chief’s letter has also gone to opposition stalwarts, including ex-PM HD Dewe Gowda, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, RJD’s Lalu Yadav, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, PDP chief Mehbooba and SAD chief Sukhbir Badal.
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