UNPA to have own nominee for VP, to abstain from Prez poll

The United National Progressive Alliance will put up its own candidate for the post of Vice President of India.

The announcement was made after the meeting of the alliance's members in New Delhi on Saturday.

The UNPA also decided that it would not support National Democratic Alliance nominee Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in his bid to become President of India.

"We have decided not to support either UPA or NDA nominee in the presidential poll," Third Front convenor and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa said at a press conference.

"We will abstain from voting in the presidential poll," she added.

The AIADMK chief ruled out asking for support from either Congress or NDA but added that no name has been decided as yet. The leaders will be in touch with each other on phone and the name of the candidate will be announced in due course.

When asked if the UNPA's action could lead to disqualification of it member parties, she said the alliance had already consulted legal experts and that there was no binding on the members of the electoral college to vote in the elections.

UNPA's decisions assume significance in view of the fact that these were arrived at after Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat met some of the alliance leaders, including Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu earlier in the day.

These also came a day after senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh had informal parleys with Alliance leaders seeking support for Shekhawat for the presidential poll.

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko told rediff.com that the vice presidential candidate could come from Samajwadi party as it has the largest number of MPs in the two Houses.

The meeting saw a sharp attack on the Centre with Finance Minister P Chidambaram being singled out for criticism allegedly for targeting Jayalalithaa.

Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh alleged that Chidambaram had frozen the bank accounts of Jayalalithaa and that they would register their protest in Parliament when the monsoon session begins.