Race to Raisina Hill: Pawar for consensus on presidential candidate

New Delhi, June 14 (ANI): Refusing to comment on the names suggested by alliance parties headed by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar has emphasized the 'need for consensus' for someone to be chosen as the President.

"We don't like to make any comment over anybody, because it is not right to comment on an individual, as it is the highest post. If we say that we like so and so for the highest post, then, it would not be right, as it is related to the country's prestige. We won't comment on it with anybody's names. But we will concentrate on bringing about a unanimity and finding a road to, solution," Pawar told media here

" We have to see how we can unanimously arrive at a common name and how we can make a way through... we have to evolve a consensus," Pawar added.

His remark came after Mulayam and Banerjee together announced the names of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee as their preferred choices for the July 19 presidential poll

Pawar was the first Congress-led UPA's constituent to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi last month on the issue. (ANI)