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Samajwadi Party has not yet decided on presidential candidate: Mulayam | Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday said that his party has not yet decided on the candidate for the President's post.
Yadav urged the media to avoid speculations, while dismissing his party leader
Shahid Siddiqui's claim, who had earlier favoured renowned nuclear scientist Dr.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's return as President. "I can't comment about the President's
nomination now. My party, the Samajwadi party has not yet had any discussion about
the choice of next President. Why are you all in such a hurry? There is a lot
of time for the presidential elections, so why are you all in such a hurry?" he
said. Siddiqui, however, made a U-turn on his earlier statement today and contended
that what he meant to say was that he would support Kalam if all the political
parties backed the renowned scientist's name as the candidate for the President's
post. "I have not taken Kalam's name. I had said that if everyone agrees on the
name of Abdul Kalam then we would also support him. I had said this in English
that we will not be averse to it. If the media takes the word 'averse' as support
then what can I say," said Siddqui. "I have always said that we have not taken
any decision. The media is taking the name of Abdul Kalam and if the journalists
ask us about our choice then we say that if everyone agrees on the name then we
will also support Kalam," he added. Siddiqui had earlier on Monday welcomed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's suggestion that the president of the country
should be a non-political person, and said his party would definitely back Dr.
Kalam if there is a consensus on his name. Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
leader M. Venkaiah Naidu called for political parties to arrive at a consensus
on this issue. "President election is very important for the country but no combination
either a NDA (National Democratic Alliance) combination or UPA (United Progressive
Alliance) combination is having clear majority. So, there has to be a consensus.
We have not discussed the names as yet," said Naidu. "Of course, Kalam has been
our choice and he was one of the best President India ever had. We have to discuss
it," he added. Abdul Kalam served as the 11th President of India, succeeding K.
R. Narayanan. He served from July 25, 2002 to July 24, 2007. According to media
reports, some of the possible contenders for the President's post, which falls
vacant on July 24 when Pratibha Devisingh Patil's term ends, include APJ Abdul
Kalam, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Hamid
Ansari, Prime Minister's Advisor Sam Pitroda and Infosys' Narayan Murthy.
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