Congress has ruled out Dr Manmohan Singh as presidential nominee. The party said they cannot spare him from the Prime Minister post.
We cannot spare Dr. Manmohan Singh," said the party spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi.
Congress also rejected the three names Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav had suggested. Along with the PM they named Abdul Kalam and Somnath Chatterjee as Presidential nominees.
With key allies rejecting her choice for President, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday was huddled in meetings with senior leaders and allies to zero in on a consensus candidate.
Senior Congress leaders A.K. Antony and P. Chidambaram also met Sonia Gandhi, besides DMK leader T.R. Baalu.
The parleys came a day after Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav rejected Gandhi's choice of Mukherjee as also of vice president Hamid Ansari and instead suggested the names of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.