President poll: AIADMK to take stand in couple of days

New Delhi [India], June 16 (ANI): The AIADMK on Friday said that it would clear its stand on the upcoming Presidential Poll in couple of days. AIADMK leader and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai on Friday met Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu here. Earlier today, Naidu and Home Minister Rajnath Singh met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to hold discussions over presidential candidate. Though Thambidurai described his meeting with Naidu as a courtesy call, but it is believed that the duo may have discussed the upcoming presidential polls. Naidu has been assigned by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah to meet with the Opposition parties to seek their support for the probable Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are also tasked to hold parleys with the Opposition over the Presidential candidate. When asked the purpose of his visit on a day when the BJP is seeking consensus for presidential candidate, the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker said, "It was just a courtesy call. Nothing political was discussed." "As far as presidential election is concerned, our party will take appropriate decision. Our Chief Minister, along with other senior ministers, will have discussions on this and decide within two days," he added. Both Naidu and Singh will also meet Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitharam Yechury to discuss over the same issue. Both of them have already spoken to Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Praful Patel and Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Satish Mishra. Naidu on Thursday spoke to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu over the same. The TDP chief said that his party will stand by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision in this regard. The last date of nomination is June 28. (ANI)