Left Front to meet on May 12, 13 on Prez nominee

Kochi, May 5: Declaring that the Left front should back a ''serious political candidate'' as President, All India Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata Biswas today said the Left Coordination Committee will meet in New Delhi on May 12 or 13 to discuss the issue.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Biswas said the Forward Bloc was not in favour of renominating Dr A P J Abdul Kalam as president for a second term.

''He is a fine human being and a good scientist. Let him work in that area. But, as President, we need to have a serious political candidate this time,'' Mr Biswas added.

Stating that the Left front should play an important role in selecting the presidential candidate, he said the Left Coordination Committee (comprising CPI-M, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc) will meet in New Delhi or May 12 or 13, once the UP Assembly election results are out, to finalise its candiate for president.

Asked if the left front was going to name Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as its candidate, he said ''that name is not on our table.'' Asked if the Forward Bloc would back Mr Chatterjee if the CPI-M proposes his candidature, Mr Biswas was non-committal.

''Let us see,'' he said.

UNI