By IANS
New Delhi : Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Satish Mishra met Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat last week, a meeting that assumes significance in the light of the key role Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Maywati is likely to play in determining who will be the nation's next president.
With the BSP yet to finalise its candidate, the unpublicized meeting between the two could be a crucial indicator which way the party will go. Mishra's meeting with Shekhawat took place soon after Mayawati was sworn in as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The meeting lasted about 15-20 minutes and was described as a courtesy call, a spokesperson of the vice president's secretariat told IANS.
Satish Mishra, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, is a close confidante of Mayawati and was recently inducted into her cabinet.
The Congress, which is yet to finalise its candidate for the top constitutional post, is awaiting Mayawati's next move. Mayawati has 41,000 votes and holds the key to Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Shekhawat got more votes as vice president than what the NDA coalition had, showing that he had good relations with even non-NDA parties.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has said he was keen on having a consensus on president and would work for that. He, however, has not disclosed who the BJP-led NDA would be supporting.
Vajpayee has been authorised by the NDA to decide on its presidential candidate.