Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday signed the nomination papers of the United Progressive Alliance presidential candidate Pratibha Patil as the third proposer.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi called on Mayawati at her residence on Wednesday afternoon with the nomination papers.

The minister later said that it was unfortunate that Ms Patil’s candidature was being opposed on political grounds. The Bahujan Samajwadi Party president is a Rajya Sabha MP and has signed the papers after Prime Minsiter Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Meanwhile, the furore over Ms Patil’s remarks over purdah refuses to die. Maulana Khalid Rashid, a member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, said God had asked women to wear a veil and that this was enshrined in the Quran.

“Any statement against the veil is an opinion against Allah and the Quran. And the Muslims will not tolerate it,” he said.

DMK support

Meanwhile, the DMK on Wednesday ruled out any support to Third Front’s campaign for support for a second term to President A P J Abdul Kalam.

Union Shipping and Transport Minister T R Baalu said his party President M Karunanidhi has said that the leaders of the Third Front should not become a “pack of jokers” in the context of Jayalalitha’s remark that UPA-Left nomination Pratibha was a “joke on the nation”.