Pranab reaches out to non-UPA parties

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UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday appealed to the parties that were still unsure about their stand on voting for him. Mr Mukherjee reached here on a special flight from Chennai and met Congress MLAs and MPs from the state in a specially-convened meeting at Jubilee Hall. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Mr Mukherjee said, “Immediately after my candidature was declared by the UPA, I had appealed to all parties to support me; some parties like the SP and the BSP are supporting the UPA from outside and the CPM, JD(U) and the Shiv Sena, who are not part of UPA, have also announced their support. So I am meeting them personally to thank them for their support.

“But there are other parties who are opposing the UPA in Parlia-ment and who have not declared their stand yet. I am still appealing to them to support my candidature.” About NDA’s candidate P.A. Sangma’s comment that a miracle would happen, Mr Mukherjee simply said, “I don’t believe in miracles.”

I am non-partisan now, says Pranab
During his visit to Hyderabad on Sunday, when UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukh-erjee was asked whether he was going to meet TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao and YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, he said, “I am not meeting any of them, but I am appealing them to support me.”

He also pointed out to the media that he was no longer a part of the Union Cabinet and thus could not comment or remark on political parties, policies or programmes anymore. “I am non-partisan now. I cannot speak on politics, an elected President of the country is barred from politics and will have to uphold the Constitution and follow whatever the Cabinet headed by the PM advises him,” he said.

He, however, termed his visit as only an interaction with Congress legislators and not an election campaign. “I will be visiting all state capitals till July 15,” Mr Mukherjee said. Meanwhile, six MIM legislators met Mr Mukherjee in his hotel and extended their support. The MLAs earlier met AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad and Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and together called on Mr Mukherjee.

Majlis chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owasi and leader of Majlis Legislature Party Akbaruddin Owasi could not be present owing to pre-planned tours in the districts. Some Telangana Mala Mahanadu workers, meanwhile, were taken into custody by the police when they tried to barge into Mr Mukherjee's hotel, demanding his stand on the Telangana statehood issue.