Rajnath Singh speaks with Nitish Kumar on presidential poll to build consensus

By Payal Mehta
New Delhi [India], June 15 (ANI): As part of the BJP's reach out to various parties in the NDA as also in opposition for the presidential poll, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday spoke to Janta Dal-United leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
As per the sources, the Defence Minister who is also the Deputy Leader of BJP in Lok Sabha, spoke to Nitish Kumar this morning for building a consensus on the candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.
Sources said it was conveyed to Nitish Kumar that an attempt is being made to put up a consensus candidate. It is also being reported that Kumar has assured that his party will be supporting the candidature as proposed by the BJP-led NDA.
The discussion over the presidential election was initiated last month when Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had visited Bihar and met Kumar.
The Bihar Chief Minister had earlier scotched speculation about the possibility of his being a candidate and had said that he was not in the presidential race. BJP and JD-U had together won the last assembly polls in Bihar.
Apart from Nitish Kumar, Union Minister Rajnath Singh has already spoken to Naveen Patnaik of Biju Janta Dal and also to the YSRC leadership.
Singh has also spoken to Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee as well as Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Sources said that this is the initial round of discussion. BJP had announced on Sunday that Rajnath Singh and JP Nadda would coordinate with political parties for presidential polls.
Leaders of several opposition parties met here on Wednesday to discuss forthcoming presidential elections and urged Sharad Pawar to be the joint candidate but the senior NCP leader declined the offer.
The meeting adopted a resolution to field a common candidate in the election slated for July 18.
The meeting was called by Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The presidential poll will be held next month. (ANI)