With Presidential elections round the corner, NCP led by Sharad Pawar has thrown in a surprise element to it. The name of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma has been pipped by it as presidential candidate on the basis that he is a Catholic and a tribal from North East. Sources say that Pawar is gambling on the aspect that both the UPA and NDA don't have the requisite numbers and that it has received positive response from NDA including BJP on Sangama's name.
However, this section reportedly wants somebody like BSP supremo Mayawati or SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav or Mamata whose support is vital to the UPA government to propose Sangma's name. But it may be noted that among others the names of vice-president Hamid Anasari, Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar are doing its rounds for the top post.
