Sonia Gandhi meets Congress leaders, DMK

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had a busy morning Thursday, meeting senior party leaders, including her presidential choice Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, as well as DMK's T.R. Baalu, to resolve the crisis over the presidential election.
A day after key allies Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) virtually rejected the Congress' presidential choices, Gandhi met Mukherjee, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Baalu at her 10, Janpath residence.
"I have communicated my leader's choice to madam. I cannot reveal anything as of now. Madam will announce the name in a day or two," Baalu told reporters.
On Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav rejected Gandhi's presidential choices Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari.
Banerjee and Mulayam Singh instead listed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee as their presidential candidate.
The Congress core group is likely to meet Thursday evening to find a way out, party sources said.

Thursday, June 14, 2012 by deivam P Mohanraj · 0