People's Democracy

Left Reiterates Criteria For Presidential Candidate

THE Left parties reiterated the criteria they set out regarding choosing of presidential candidate –– the person occupying the post of president must have a political background and firm secular credentials and must be able to exercise judgement to maintain the balance between the parliament, executive and the judiciary.

Making a brief statement to the media after the meeting of the Left parties at AKG Bhavan on June 12, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat stated that there has been more or less consensus both within and outside UPA on the criteria set by the Left. He said that discussions are going on with various parties but the stage has not been reached where a name could be finalised.

Reiterating that the Left parties approach in this regard remains the same as earlier, he said that final round of discussions in this regard will take place after arrival of Tamilnadu chief minister M Karunanidhi in New Delhi on June 13. Asked about few probable names, Karat asserted that the Left parties are not interested in going into individual names. He further clarified that there is no Left candidate.

Among those present at the press conference were CPI general secretary A B Bardhan, CPI secretary D Raja, AIFB general secretary Debabrata Biswas and RSP leader Abani Roy. (INN)