Pawar confident of Sangma's withdrawal from Prez race

Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said he would request his party colleague P A Sangma to withdraw his candidature for the Presidential election and expressed confidence that he (Sangma) would abide by the party stand.

"I am confident that he would withdraw his candidature and listen to the request from the party. He is a senior party leader and there is no question of taking any action against him," he told the media when asked about the NCP's stand on Sangma's candidature.

Pawar said UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee would comfortably win the presidential election even in the absence of the support from the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress.

He, however expressed the hope that Banerjee would support Mukherjee to facilitate the latter's election to the top slot, which would also be an honour for the state of West Bengal.

"Even if TMC drops out, Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party will support the UPA candidate. The Bahujan Samaj Party and some smaller parties, too, will support Mukherjee and there will not be any problem to cross the magic figure", he added.

Stating it would be desirable to avoid contest while electing a candidate for the supreme post in the country, Pawar said, Mukherjee's credentials as a parliamentarian and an administration qualified him for support from all quarters.

Earlier this week, Pawar had sent an emissary to Sangma with an advice not to press for his candidature.
Sangma ignored the advice saying he was in the fray as a tribal candidate and not as an NCP leader. Sangma's candidature was announced by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.