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Favouring a second term for President K R Narayanan, the Communist Party of India on Monday asked Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to try evolve a consensus for the top post.
"In today's context and with the happenings in Gujarat, a contest for the President's post is not good," CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said after a meeting with Vajpayee.
Asked if he would support the candidature of Maharashtra Governor P C Alexander, who is understood to be Bharatiya Janata Party's choice for President, Bardhan said, "We will not support Alexander."
He said the prime minister had not told him that Alexander was National Democratic Alliance's candidate.
Bardhan's meeting was part of the consultation process the prime minister is having with opposition leaders on the Presidential election and the ongoing Indo-Pak tension.
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