Any UPA candidate is acceptable to us:Paswan

Kochi, May 10 (UNI) Lok Janashakti Party president and union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said any nominee proposed by the UPA Government was acceptable to his party and added the UPA will jointly field a consensus candidate for the presidential elections.

Asked about reports that the Congress was planning to propose the candidature of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Paswan said ''we will blindly accept any candidate decided upon by the government''.

On a second term for Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Mr Paswan accused the BJP of indulging in double standards. While the last time, the BJP had said that it was not in favour of granting a second term to Mr K R Narayanan as no president had got a double term except Dr Rajendra Prasad, this time they were speaking in favour of a second term for Dr Kalam.

Declaring that the UPA Government's reticence about backing Dr Kalam for a second term did not impinge on its secular credentials, he added ''the UPA does not need certificates from anyone regarding secularism.'' About the UP assembly elections, he said there would be a hung assembly with the Sawajwadi Party, BSP and BJP emerging as the main parties. As the BSP and SP would not ally with one another, it was to be seen whether they would have any truck with the BJP.

A lot would also depend on how many seats the Congress was able to get.

''Maybe there will be a government or maybe there will be president's rule. Maybe this was the semi-final election and the finals will come later,'' he added.

UNI