Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: After being nominated by regional parties like BJD and AIADMK as presidential candidate, NCP leader PA Sangma on Friday met veteran BJP leader LK Advani seeking his party`s crucial support for his candidature for the presidency.
Though the details of the meeting have not been disclosed, it has been reported that the tribal leader has discussed at length his presidential aspirations with the BJP stalwart.
Sangma, who is expected to file his nomination next week, has projected himself as a tribal, Christian candidate from the North East to garner support.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker, who is considered an underdog in the Presidential race, is pinning his hopes on `big number of hidden votes` and has been trying hard to emerge as a consensus candidate for the presidency. Sangma had earlier met a host of political leaders, including Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Prakash Karat, Nitish Kumar, D Raja and Mulayam Singh seeking their support.
He has also sought appointments with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to press for a tribal candidate for the post of the President. Last month Congress chief Sonia Gandhi dealt a massive blow to Sangma as she refused to give him an appointment.
Sangma had revolted on the issue of Sonia`s foreign origin in 1999 and left Congress to join hands with Sharad Pawar to form the Nationalist Congress Party.
Sangma, who aspires to become the first tribal leader to hold the nation`s top office, has secured support of regional players like the AIADMK and the BJD.
Sangma has also made an appeal to other political parties to support a candidate from the tribal community.
Claiming candidature of a tribal for the top post could help solve major problems like insurgency, he said, "If a tribal sits in the chair, many problems of India, whether it is Maoism, Naxalism or insurgency in the North East will end. I am sure that tribal President will be in a much better position to soften the stance of these groups and perhaps may lead to some sort of solution."
"I feel tribal President can reach out to all these elements," he said adding that in his earlier capacity he had held talks with insurgents including NSCN of Nagaland and ULFA and amicable solutions were arrived.