CPI favours 'Dalit woman' as Prez

Top CPI leader A B Bardhan said Congress or UPA have not spoken with the Left parties or come out with any name for the Presidential elections.

"Mahatma Gandhi has said one good thing...Among many other good things that a Dalit woman should be made President," he told a press conference when asked about his party's preference in the July poll for the President post.

However, Bardhan said, he did not mean Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar when he talked about a Dalit woman as the next president. "Sorry. I am not taking any names," he said.

Asked on whether the Left parties would support Pranab Mukherjee if the UPA choses the Finance Minister as its candidate, Bardhan said, "I cannot answer to your questions which are full of ifs."

To a question whether the Left can afford not to support Mukherjee, the former CPI general secretary said he should not be asked such questions on whether somebody is acceptable or not.

"We will wait and watch. Left parties are meeting here on June 21 to firm up our strategy," he said.

Bardhan said only four leaders -- NCP chief Sharad Pawar, BJD head Naveen Patnaik, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa and TDP president Chandrababu Naidu -- spoke to him.

Barring the four leaders none, including Mukherjee, had spoken to him on the matter, he said.

When asked about reports that Mukherjee spoke with former West Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, party sources said he is not in the leadership of CPI(M) or the Left. "They will have to talk to those in leadership," he said.