By IANS
New Delhi : The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Tuesday condemned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led opposition's "smear campaign" against their presidential candidate Pratibha Patil and said it was destroying "the very sanctity of the constitutional process".
Addressing a joint press conference, UPA leaders said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) campaign against Patil, locked in a straight fight with Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for the July 19 presidential polls, would "dilute the norms that form part of the political process in a mature democracy".
"Unfortunately, the very sanctity of the constitutional process is being destroyed by interested parties through resorting to a smear campaign based on frivolous and unfounded allegations against Pratibha Patil," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
Others attending the press conference included Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, Lok Janashakti Party's Ram Vilas Paswan and Indian Union Muslim League's E. Ahamed.
Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Minister Prithviraj Chavan was there as well.
The UPA leaders also asked Shekhawat to quit as vice president before contesting the elections.
The opposition has charged Patil, who will be India's first woman president if elected, with non-payment of a loan taken from a cooperative bank for a sugar factory floated by her family in 1973 in Maharashtra. She has also been accused of shielding her brother in a murder case.
The BJP has approached the Election Commission demanding that presidential candidates declare their assets and state if they faced any criminal cases against them.
Although Patil's victory appears to be a foregone conclusion as the UPA and its allies have majority in the 1.09 million strong electoral college, the NDA's charges against her have evoked an extraordinary interest in the presidential poll.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking directions to the poll panel to cancel her nomination papers on grounds that she was in debt to the public exchequer.