PM Modi to meet BJP Parliamentary Party, Presidential candidate could be picked up
It is expected that the BJP at Monday's meeting will name the candidate of its choice before the party top brass goes back to the opposition for a consensus.
The BJP parliamentary board meeting will be attended by Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah and also Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu, who are the members of the panel formed to build consensus with the opposition.
Speculations are there that the Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu's names are on the BJP's wishlist. Earlier, rumours were doing round that Sushma Swaraj was the first choice of the BJP, but the External Affairs Ministerr has clarified that she is not in the race.
The Left Front has said if the NDA doesn't announce its candidate by Tuesday, the opposition will announce its own candidate.
The names opposition is said to be considering include former Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar.
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