The Left parties were holding informal discussions with some parties and favoured evolving a consensus on the name of a Presidential nominee, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told reporters here today.
The Left parties, which would initiate deliberations among themselves on the presidential election on Friday, are clear that they would not support former President A P J Abdul Kalam whom they had opposed earlier too.
Confirming the meeting, CPI National Secretary D Raja said the four parties would meet on May four and hold "preliminary consultations" on the matter. "This will be the first occasion when we meet to discuss this issue," he said.
The Left parties continue to oppose Kalam as his name has been mooted by the BJP. The parties had put up a leading light of Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army, Capt Lakshmi Sehgal, against Kalam during the 2002 Presidential poll.
In fact, Ansari was the choice of Left parties before he was elected as Vice President during UPA-I when the government was dependent on their outside support.
Observing that the Congress had not yet firmly spelt out the name of a presidential candidate, Left sources said they had not been approached by the Congress.
While refusing to be drawn into specific names, the CPI-M has been saying it would support a candidate enjoying "maximum consensus" in the Presidential elections. (More) PTI ARC VSC
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