Shiv Sena to recommend Swaminathan's name if BJP not ready for Bhagwat

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said that party chief Uddhav Thackeray is likely to to suggest the name of the chairman of National Commission on Farmers (NCF) M.S. Swaminathan' for the post of president to Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, if the latter is not ready for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat's nomination.

Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu reached Congress president Sonia Gandhi's house to discuss matters related to next month's presidential election.

Both ministers will also hold separate consultations with Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury in the afternoon, today.

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

Naidu yesterday spoke to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu over the same.

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

The last date of nomination is June 28.

-ANI