Presidential Elections: BJP Rejects Congress Candidates

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday rejected the names proposed by Congress party for the upcoming presidential elections in July this year. Congress has proposed thress names - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and APJ Abdul Kalam for the post of next President of India. But the BJP rejected the names of Hamid Ansari and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee saying "Pranab is a Congressman and Ansari is not of that stature".

However, the BJP appeared not averse to the name of former president APJ Abdul Kalam for the top constitutional post, provided the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) proposed his name. "If a name is supported by Mamata Banerjee and Sharad Pawar, we will support it. If Mulayam Singh Yadav takes Kalam's name, then we can respond favourably," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj said.