JD(S) backs opposition parties joint candidate in presidential polls

Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Thursday said his party would support any candidate selected by opposition parties for presidential polls.

"Congress president Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel met me and sought our party support for a joint candidate fielded by Opposition parties in the upcoming polls. I told him that my party will support any candidate fielded by opposition parties," Gowda told reporters here.

Though Sonia Gandhi invited him for a meeting of Opposition parties to discuss the candidate on Friday, he deputed Mandya M P C S Puttaraju to attend it since he will be returning to Bengaluru for some other pressing works, he added.

Top leaders of several opposition parties will go into a huddle on Friday at a luncheon hosted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi here where they would explore the possibility of fielding a joint candidate for the election.

The meeting would be attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and JD(U) veteran Sharad Yadav, who is himself a possible contender for the top constitutional post, sources said.

Apart from choosing a presidential candidate, the members will also discuss issues like forming a grand alliance for upcoming assembly polls in states like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, besides Lok Sabha elections in 2019. In the meeting, others issues like violence in Kashmir and Saharanpur clashes may also come up for discussion.

Efforts are on to bring arch political rivals in Uttar Pradesh-- Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party--together on a common opposition platform ahead of the presidential poll.

Several names have been doing the rounds of political circles as probables, including Gopal Krishna Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and former West Bengal Governor, Sharad Yadav, a former JD(U) president, ex-Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The NCP leader has, however, ruled himself out of the race.