Pranab leaves it to High Command

Midnapur, May 13 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said only the Congress High Command will decide whether he would be the party's nominee for the Presidential poll.

Mr Mukherjee was replying to a query whether about his probability of being the Congress' Presidential candidate.

Mr Mukherjee, also president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, said it was upto the Congress High Command to take a decision. ''I will go by the decision of the High Command. If elected, however, I will follow the Indian Constitution strictly,'' he said.

The External Affairs Minister was talking to reporters in Circuit House here this evening after inaugurating the Centenary Celebration Programme on Gandhian Satyagraha in this town.

Earlier, he along with AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, addressed a rally in front of Gandhi's statue here.

Mr Mukherjee, however, avoided questions on Nandigram and the role of the state government.

He also did not mention acquisition of farm land for industrialisation in the state.

However, Mr Singh strongly criticised the Left Front government's role on land acquisition. ''I had been to Nandigram personally. I strongly criticise the way in which the notice for acquiring farmer's land was issued there. No land should be taken from poor peasants without arranging their rehabilitation and employment,'' Mr Singh said.

UNI