By IANS
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday night rejected an appeal by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to support United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate Pratibha Patil for president.
Making an emotional appeal to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi said it was the first time that she was seeking support of the BJP, but Vajpayee replied: "Without consulting us, you put up your candidate. We have our candidate and that is why we will not support you."
Party president Rajnath Singh said: "We will not support the UPA candidate since they made the announcement without seeking our support. We will also have our candidate."
However, the joint statement by Vajpayee and Rajnath Singh did not name who the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will field for the post.