By IANS
New Delhi : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Tuesday announced her crucial support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the presidential elections but left the announcement of the candidate's name to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Speaking at a press conference at Maurya Sheraton Hotel, Mayawati said in the same breath that there was no question of her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which she described as "communal".
After explaining at some length why she took so long to decide on who she would prop as India's next president, Mayawati ended her interaction with the media on a note of anti-climax, refusing to reveal who was it that she had agreed to support at her dinner meeting Monday with Sonia Gandhi.
"We had a lengthy discussion in which some names figured and a general consensus has been formed. You may want to know who is that person on whom there is a general consensus.
"In this connection, you will soon get the announcement from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. I don't want to… I have cleared my stand."
She declined to take questions from journalists, merely saying that she had imposed "no condition" for extending BSP's support to the Congress-led UPA and also made "no claim" on the president's post.
Underlining that the BSP has always fought against "communal forces", she said: "There is no question of supporting any NDA candidate in the presidential elections."