Pratibha Patil arrives here tomorrow to garner support

Patna, July 9 (UNI) UPA Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil is arriving here tomorrow on a day's visit to garner support from the legislators in Bihar for the July 19 Presidential poll.

Bihar Pradesh Congress sources here today said on her arrival here from New Delhi Ms Patil would first hold talks with Pradesh Congress President Sadanand Singh and his party MLAs and MlCs before meeting legislators of all other constituents of UPA in the state including the Rastriya Janata Dal(RJD), CPI and CPI(M)to seek their support.

However, to prepare the groundwork before her visit, AICC General Secretary, in charge of Bihar and former Madhaya Pradesh Chief minister Digvijay Singh is scheduled to arrive here this evening along with Railway minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad.

Before arraging a meeting with the Presidential candidate, both the leaders were likely to talk separately with their party legislators about the poll procedures.

From here Ms Patil would leave for Ranchi the same evening for doing the same exercise with UPA and its like-minded legislators in Jharkhand, the sources added.

Incidentally, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also scheduled to visit Patna for a day on July 17 to review the progress in state agriculture sector besides participating in a number of programmes with Chief minister Nitish Kumar.

UNI