New Delhi, July 16 (IBNS): Former Union Minister Jaswant Singh on Monday was named by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as their candidate for the Vice President election.
The name of Jaswant Singh was doing the rounds in BJP circles ahead of their meeting Monday to decide on a name for the poll to be held on Aug 7, media reports had said.
The name of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Sharad Yadav was also reportedly being considered by the BJP-led coalition.
BJP earlier made it clear that it will not support the nomination of Vice President Hamid Ansari for a second term and instead pitch its own candidate against the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) choice.
Though no name was mentioned officially, the party earlier said it will select a candidate following consultation with allies.
The BJP top brass that met on Saturday evening at party president Nitin Gadkari's residence to finalise its strategy for the elections, has called for a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) members on July 16 to discuss the matter.
The move comes after the Congress-led UPA on Saturday renominated Hamid Ansari for a second term as the Vice-President of the country.
Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mukul Roy attended the UPA meeting on behalf of West Bengal Chief Minister and party chief Mamata Banerjee.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief after opposing Pranab Mukherjee as the Presidential candidate also made it clear that her vice-president choices are different.
But reports on Sunday said one of the TMC choices, former West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, has refused to contest.
