The Congress Core Group met on Friday evening to review the strategy to get the former Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, elected President. It also had some preliminary discussions on the vice-presidential election.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pawan K Bansal, who is not a member of the Core Group, briefed the members on the status of the current campaign for the presidential election, and how much support had been secured thus far.
Mr. Bansal is Mr. Mukherjee’s chief election agent.
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Sources in the party said the name of the vice-presidential candidate would be finalised next week: the last date for nominations is July 20. The incumbent Vice-President Hamid Ansari is still the frontrunner for the job, the sources indicated.
Those who attended Friday’s meeting were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party president Sonia Gandhi, Union Ministers A.K. Antony and P. Chidambaram and Ms. Gandhi’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel.