Left Front to meet on May 12 to discuss Presidential nominee

Kochi, May 5 (UNI) 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, he 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 said.

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) would meet in New Delhi on May 12 or 13, once the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election results were out, to finalise its candidate 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 proposed his candidature, he remained non-committal, saying ''let us see.'' UNI