JD-U favours consensus candidate for president's office

New Delhi, May 23 (UNI) Janata Dal (United) (JD-U) today said that genuine efforts should be made to find out a consensus candidate for the forthcoming Presidential elections.

Addressing newspersons here today, party president Sharad Yadav said since UPA is in power so the first initiative should come from their side.

Responding to a question whether the JD-U will support the UPA candidate, Mr Yadav said that would be seen at that particular time.

He said names of the probable Presidential candidates, circulating in the media, are totally based on speculation.

Mr Yadav said so far NDA was concerned former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been authorised to take decision in that regard.

He said Mr Vajpayee had already started discussing the issue With various leaders to find out a possible consensus candidate for the post.

In response to another question, Mr Yadav said technically speaking the UPA has the number in their side. They enjoy the support of nearly 5.10 lakh voters, while NDA has just 3.5 lakh votes with them. So there is no question that the Congress or the UPA was concerned about the candidature of Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, he added.

UNI