Prez poll: Biju Janata Dal's support for Sangma continues, says Panda

New Delhi, June 14 (ANI): With the various political outfits adopting a wait-and-watch approach till Congress finalises its name for a presidential candidate, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Jay Panda on Thursday said his party would continue to back former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma for the prestigious post.

"When Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) founder president Naveen Patnaik announced our support for Sangma, it was done after a lot of consultations inside the party and outside the party. So, it is not proper for me to second guess what our party decision will be," said Panda.

"Of course, there are very stunning developments since yesterday. But let us be very clear that all the names today, which are in circulation, they are all respectable names, irrespective of which party they are from. Dr. Kalam is from no party at all, that is not the point. The point is none of the names today actually have enough support that we can say that the issue is settled," he added.

The Congress Party is holding parleys with its senior leaders in the wake of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Samajwadi Party (SP) stunning the ruling party by proposing three names for the presidential candidate.

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had earlier on Wednesday evening announced the names of Manmohan Singh, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Somnath Chatterjee as their preferred choices for the July 19 presidential poll.

The latest developments appear to be a major blow for the ruling Congress Party, as both Mamata and Mulayam have rejected the names of Mukherjee and Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari.

Panda further said the Biju Janata Dal's support for Sangma continues, but added that the consultations within the party on the presidential candidate would continue.

So, I think, we will have to absorb this development and we will have to have consultations inside the party as well and take a call. But until and unless that decision is made, of course our support for Sangma continues. So, we will have to wait and see how development shape up," he said.

"We announced the support to Sangma. We had taken into account his accomplishments as a speaker, who is highly respected, as somebody from northeast, as tribal. We have never had tribal president before, so was a serious decision and serious decision can't just be treated casually. So as of now, that decision stands regarding yesterday's development about new names coming up. We will have new consultations coming up in out party and decide what our response should be," he added.

Sangma , who has been campaigning on the ground that the country should have a tribal president, has so far met Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Lal Krishna Advani, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Patnaik and Jayalalithaa had on May 17 announced their joint support for Sangma.

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil's term ends on July 24 this year. (ANI)