Pratibha Patil a joint candidate of UPA: Lalu

Patna, June 19 (UNI) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today said Rajasthan Governor Pratibha Patil was the joint candidate of the Left and the UPA in the presidential election and would enjoy their support as her candidature was decided unanimously.

Retorting at Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's move for evolving a consensus for re-electing NDA-backed missile man A P J Abdul Kalam in Presidency, Mr Prasad, who is on an official visit to Patna and Gaya, said it was pointless to propose his name since his candidature had already been turned down by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Critisising the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), an eight-party Third Front, which has proposed Dr Kalam's name as its nominee, Mr Prasad said, 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 Third Fronts proposal.

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

Meanwhile, Union Steel, Chemical and Fertiliser Minister Ram Vilas Paswan appealed the Opposition to support the candidature of Ms Patil for the coming presidential election.

During his visit to Khagaria, Mr Paswan told mediapersons here that the proposal of Ms Patil's name as a presidential candidate by the UPA was well appreciable.

Ms Patil would be the first woman to occupy the presitigious post of President in almost six decades of post Independent era, he said.

Commenting on the NDA's move, he alleged although the alliance had not found a suitable candidate, they had fielded Mr Shekhawat as an independent candidate to create problems in the unopposed election of the first woman as the president.

Expressing shock over the third front's announcement to support President APJ Abdul Kalam as their candidate, Mr Paswan said, it was ironical that Mr Shekhawat had supported the candidature of Mr Kalam.

UNI