Presidential polls: Opposition leaders meet to discuss strategy

Sources said leaders would discuss probable names but would await a govt initiative in this regard

Opposition leaders met to discuss their presidential poll strategy on Wednesday as the process started for the filing of nominations for the July 17 election to the country's top constitutional post.

All 10 members of the opposition sub-group formed for this purpose met in the chamber of the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, sources said.

This is the first meeting of the sub-group since its formation a few days ago.

The sources said the leaders would discuss probable names for the post but would await a government initiative in this regard.

A three-member government panel comprising three senior ministers — Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu — is slated to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi on this on Thursday.

A united opposition, after several rounds of parleys between leaders of various parties, is hoping to zero in on a "mutually acceptable" presidential candidate with the ruling dispensation.

If that does not happen, it is expected to put up a united candidate against the official National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee.