Antony meets Karuna; DMK to back Congress Prez nominee?

Congress on Sunday reportedly managed to get ally DMK’s assurance on backing its nominee for the presidential polls, scheduled to be held in July this year. The Congress has, in recent weeks, intensified its efforts to create a consensus around its preferred nominees for President. According to a Times of India report Defence Minister A K Antony met DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Sunday to discuss the possible candidatures of vice-president Hamid Ansari and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. This comes just days after Congress president Sonia Gandhi discussed the issue with NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Both Antony and Karunanidhi refused to reveal what transpired during the meeting. Senior DMK leaders, T R Baalu, K Ponmudi, T K S Elangovan and Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi were also present in the hour-long meeting. “It was a very, very fruitful meeting. I’ll report to the Congress president whatever he said,” said Antony later, declining to divulge any details. “Soniaji asked me to go to Chennai to meet the DMK chief and discuss the present political situation. I paid my respect and had a detailed discussion about the political situation,” he said. “He (Karunanidhi) is the senior-most leader of the country and one of the closest allies of UPA. We always value his advice”. [caption id=“attachment_292489” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“nister A K Antony met DMK chief M Karunanidhi. PTI”]  [/caption] He said the two leaders talked about the Presidential elections in general and not any particular probable candidate, adding that the DMK had not suggested the name of any Presidential candidature nor it would oppose any candidate. “The party has no issue if the proposed candidate is from Tamil Nadu. The last time we had suggested that the candidate should be a woman. This time, we have not made any suggestion,” he said. However, there were indications from DMK sources that Karunanidhi conveyed to Antony his preference for a Muslim candidate, reported Times of India. Though the Dravidian party has not yet named any favorites, it has told the Congress that former president APJ Abdul Kalam was not acceptable, according to DNA reports. Sonia Gandhi is likely to next meet Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to discuss the issue. Congress will also hold meetings with Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party over names of candidates, before meetings with opposition parties. NCP is said to have backed Vice-President Hamid Ansari for the top post. Even Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s name is doing the rounds. However, several parties have expressed the desire to have an politically neutral president. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is unlikely to support any active Congress member for the post, said a source in the Opposition party. The DMK spokesman said three groups would decide on the name of the new president: Congress-led United Progressive Alliance UPA, BJP -led National Democratic Alliance and the Left parties. A candidate proposed by just one group could not be the winner, he said. The Congress has 31 percent of the total votes against 24 percent for the BJP in an electoral college for voting for the president. With inputs from IANS