NDA allies urge each other to review stand

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Congress activists pray for finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s victory in the upcoming presidential election at Tarapith

Reeling under a split of opinions over support to a presidential candidate, NDA allies the JD(U) and BJP on Friday urged each other to change their minds on the issue. With no side indicating a willingness to review their decision, a combative JD(U) further queered the pitch by praising UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee’s work as finance minister.
While BJP national spokesman Ravishankar Prasad asked both the JD(U) and the Shiv Sena to support NDA’s presidential candidate P.A. Sangma instead of Mr Mukherjee, JD(U) national spokesman Shvanand Tiwary appealed the BJP to support Mr Mukherjee. Mr Tiwary’s appeal came after Mr Prasad told reporters in Patna that the JD(U) and the Shiv Sena should support the BJP’s chosen candidate, Mr Sangma.
“We (BJP and JD-U) have been in an alliance for 16 years and fought nine elections together so far. All of us, Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav included, have walked together in our fight against the Congress for long and gone to jail together during the Emergency. We urge both the JD(U) and the Shiv Sena to reconsider their decision and support Sangma in order to strengthen our non-Congressism,” said Mr Prasad. Mr Tiwary, urging the BJP to support Mr Mukherjee’s candidature, described him as “a seasoned and experienced politician” and “a person with intelligence and commitment to the Constitution and parliamentary democracy”.
Maintaining that the JD(U)’s support to Mr Mukherjee must not be seen as its support to the Congress, Mr Tiwary made matters worse for the BJP by praising Mr Mukherjee’s work as the finance minister on a day the BJP held jail-bharo rallies across the country in protest against the UPA government’s financial policies and alleged corruption.

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‘Mamata should rationally support Sangma’
Bhopal, June 22: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Friday said that Trinamul Congress president and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee should rationally extend support to BJP-backed candidate P.A. Sangma for the presidential polls.
“Mamata’s candidate was former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who has refused to contest the presidential polls so rationally, she should have supported Sangma, who is a capable leader from the Northeast,” Ms Swaraj told mediapersons after courting arrest as part of the BJP’s nationwide protest on the issue or rising prices of food items and petrol.
“Sangma will also speak to Mamata on the issue soon,” the senior BJP leader said. — PTI