BJP to wait till Congress names presidential candidate

The BJP remained tight-lipped over presidential candidates after the fall out with allies on comments against Vice President Hamid Ansari's candidature, with the top leadership now deciding to wait and watch till Congress discloses its candidates.

The party is likely to disclose its stand only after Congress declares who the candidate will be, said sources.

"There is still time before the election, we will see who the candidate is, and then decide whom we want to field," a party leader told IANS on condition of anonymity.  

The party leader also defended Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj saying she did not mean to make any inappropriate comment on the vice president, but her comment got paraphrased wrongly.

A cautious party spokesperson Sayed Shanawaz Hussain, however, said that the issue was not taken up in the parliamentary party meeting Thursday morning and the party had nothing to say on the issue.

Differences emerged between BJP and JD-U over Sushma Swaraj's comment on the vice-president that he did not have the stature for being a president.

Janata Dal-United (JD-U), a key ally of BJP, has differed with the party in supporting names doing the rounds as probable Congress candidates without discussing the matter in NDA.
BJP is, however, confident of its ally standing by its side in the voting.

"If there is no consensus, our allies will be with us definitely in the presidential polls," a party leader said.