Within hours of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) announcing Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as its Presidential nominee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called up Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat seeking support.
“The Prime Minister called me and I told him that the Left parties will meet on June 21 where it will be discussed and decided,” Mr. Karat told The Hindu .
The CPI(M), the CPI, the Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party have been maintaining that they would take the final call on the Presidential candidate only after the UPA announced its candidate, though they had met Nationalist Congress Party leader P.A. Sangma when he called on them to garner support for his candidature.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat has tweeted her greetings to Mr. Mukherjee on his candidature.
Communist Party of India (CPI) national secretary D. Raja said the June 21 meeting would decide on the course to be taken by the Left parties.
Dr. Singh also spoke to CPI leader A.B. Bardhan to seek support.
