Presidential polls: Rajnath, Naidu to meet Sonia on Friday

Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and M. Venkaiah Naidu will meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on 16 June to discuss matters related to next month's presidential election.

Both have already spoken to Nationalist Congress Party's Praful Patel and Bahujan Samaj Party's Satish Mishra.

Meanwhile, a Opposition leaders' meeting over the presidential election is currently underway inside the Parliament in Delhi.

The election for the next president of India is to be held on July 17, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Wednesday, adding that he had exchanged views with Home Minister Rajnath Singh and it had been decided that they would talk to different parties.

Naidu said, "We exchanged views today, and will be talking to different parties regarding the same."

"On June 17, the Finance Minister will come back. We will exchange information with him and move forward", he added.

Meanwhile, the Opposition leaders will meet today to discuss the presidential elections.

The convention will include Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, TMC leader Derek O'Brien, Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav, BSP's Satish Chandra Mishra, DMK leader R.S. Bharathi and NCP's Praful Patel.

Recently, Congress president Sonia Gandhi met various leaders from opposition parties to give a tough fight to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government's candidate for the post of President.

Earlier this week, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah had formed a three-member committee, consisting of Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley for consultations with the opposition over likely candidates for president.

-ANI