Shashi Tharoor meets President Kalam

New Delhi, Jun 21: India's nominee for the UN Secretary General's post, Shashi Tharoor, today met President A P J Abdul Kalam and apprised him of the discussions he held with Indian leaders during the past three days.

The meeting with the President was a ''courtesy call,'' sources said.

The UN official who, is leaving tomorrow morning after three days of hectic schedule here, also met former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and several officials of the External Affairs Ministry during the day.

He is scheduled to cap his three-day visit to India with a late night meeting with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and National Security Advisor (NSA) M K Narayanan.

Mr Tharoor had earlier met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and the Left leaders.

Expressing satifaction at the outcome of his meetings with Indian political leaders, Mr Tharoor said he had discussed with the ''way forward'' in the elections to the top post of the world body which is falling vacant after the tenure of the present Secretary General, Kofi Annan, expires on December 31.

''I had a very pleasant meeting with the Prime Minister. I thanked him for his support and nominating me for the Secretary General's post. We discussed the way forward and the steps that need to be taken to advance our credentials. The idea is to present as broad a spectrum as possible and to leave Delhi as India's national offering to the world,'' he said after a 35-minute meeting with the Prime Minister on June 19.

UNI