Presidential polls: Swamy ridicules 'minority party' Congress after Oppn. seeks names for candidates

With the Congress party seeking for names and consensus over presidential election from the ruling dispensation, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Saturday said the "minority party" has no right to make such demand names from a "majority party."

"We are not soliciting their approval. We want their consensus. We have a candidate; we have absolute majority to get them elected. If it is the Opposition which will tell us that they have a candidate, then it does not make sense. They are a minority party and they are asking a majority party to give names, I mean 'who the hell are you?' This is the arrogance of the Opposition," Swamy told ANI.

Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu yesterday met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence to discuss matters related to next month's presidential elections.

Both of them have already spoken to Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Praful Patel and Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Satish Mishra.

Naidu on Thursday spoke to NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu over the same.

The TDP chief said his party would stand by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision in this regard.

As President Mukherjee's term nears its end, the Presidential election will be held on July 17.

The Election Commission said the last date of nomination is June 28 and the counting of votes will be taken up on July 20.

President Mukherjee will demit office on July 25 and Vice President Hamid Ansari will complete his second tenure in August.

-ANI