Pratibha Patil a joint candidate of the UPA: Lalu

Patna, June 19: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today said Rajasthan Governor Prathibha Patil was the joint candidate of the Left and UPA in the presidential election.

On the backdrop of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's move to garner support for Dr APJ Abdul Kalam for a second term, Mr Prasad who is on an official visit to Patna and Gaya said that although the UPA had already announced its candidate for the presidential election, Pratibha Patil would enjoy the support of the UPA as well as her candidature was decided unanimously.

Retorting at Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's move for evolving a consensus for reelecting the NDA-backed missile man in Presidency, Mr Prasad said that it was pointless to propose his name now since his candidature had already been turned down by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mr Prasad raised finger at the third front saying that it was a conspiracy of the Front to ''defame'' Dr Kalam and alleged that realising his ''weak'' position in the Presidential election race, Mr Shekhawat was backing the the third fronts proposal.

He further claimed that Mr Shekhawat would never win the presidential elections and in order to save his face the Vice-President was in favour of generating a total unanimity of all political parties for Dr Kalam.

Earlier the eight-party Third Front, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) had proposed Dr Kalam's name as its nominee while the NDA had lent its weight behind Mr Shekhawat.

The UPA had already announced Pratibha Patil as its candidate for the July 19 Presidential poll.

UNI