By IANS
New Delhi : An expected meeting of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies and supporting Left partners to decide on a common candidate for next month's presidential poll is likely to be postponed from June 7 to June 13.
Till then the suspense over who the UPA, the Left and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati will collectively settle for will continue, notwithstanding the Congress Working Committee (CWC) authorising party president Sonia Gandhi to select whoever she wants, said a UPA source.
June 13 is being mentioned as a likely day because it is the earliest date when all the important UPA and Left leaders will be in the capital.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is going Wednesday to Germany to attend the G-8 summit. He will be there till June 9.
The same day, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is going to Amsterdam and will be away till June 11. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat is already on a tour of Portugal and Greece and is now expected to return only June 8.
Besides, sources in the UPA said, Mayawati has not yet decided on her choice and so far conveyed no preferences to the UPA.
"These things could take some more time," said the UPA source who did not want to be named.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M. Karunanidhi who had announced in the capital last week his intention to return to Delhi Thursday to discuss the presidential candidate with the prime minister, the UPA chairperson, other UPA allies and Left leaders, has also decided to postpone his visit and will be coming June 13.
He will be accompanying his daughter M. Kanimozhi, who will by then get elected to the Rajya Sabha. Karunanidhi is accompanying her, according to DMK sources, to convey a clear message in political circles that she is the DMK pointsperson in Delhi. Earlier, this privilege was enjoyed by her cousin and former information technology and communications minister Dayanidhi Maran.
While in Delhi, Karunanidhi is to meet all the top UPA leaders with Kanimozhi and simultaneously the choice of presidential candidate could also be discussed with them, said DMK sources.