By IANS,
New Delhi : Keeping their cards close to the chest, the Left parties Wednesday said selection of a candidate for the presidential election should be based on the widest possible acceptance.
“The Left parties reiterated their stand that there should be a candidate for the presidential election based on the widest possible acceptance,” a statement said after a meeting of the Left parties here.
P.A. Sangma, whose candidature for presidential polls has been backed by the Biju Janata Dal and AIADMK, Tuesday met Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Prakash Karat to seek the Left parties’ support.
CPI-M leaders have been saying they would articulate their position after the Congress officially names its presidential candidate.
They have not opposed the names of Vice President Hamid Ansari and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, doing the rounds as possible nominees of the Congress.
Apart from Karat, the meeting of Left parties was attended by CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechury and S. Ramachandran Pillai, Communist Party of India’s A.B. Bardhan, Sudhakar Reddy and D. Raja, Revolutionary Socialist Party’s T.J. Chandrachoodan and Abani Roy and Forward Bloc’s Debabrata Biswas and G. Devarajan.