New Delhi: Congress on Tuesday got a big boost in the Presidential election race with Samajwadi Party hinting at backing its candidate even as other parties appeared cold to former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma`s candidature for the top post.
"One condition, he should not be a bureaucrat," SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters here when asked whether his party would support a Congress candidate.
SP and BSP together have more than one lakh vote value in an electoral college of about 11 lakh.
NCP too said that it is with UPA on the issue of Presidential nominee.
"We are with UPA on the issue", NCP leader Praful Patel said adding "we have told MP Agatha Sangma, daughter of PA Sangma, not to accompany her father when he goes out for campaigning for his candidature".
On the other hand, 64-year-old Sangma, who belongs to NCP, today met CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who, along with his Tamil Nadu counterpart Jayalaltihaa, had proposed his candidature and later appealed to political parties to support a tribal nominee.
Sangma hoped the parties, including those of UPA and NDA, would resond to the "call of conscience" of the tribal people of the nation.
PTI
