BJD sticks to Sangma as Prez candidate

June 17, 2012 20:43

With NCP leader P A Sangma refusing to pull out of the Presidential race, the ruling BJD in Odisha, which was the first to moot his name for the top post, today stuck to its support for the former Lok Sabha Speaker.

"Having proposed Sangma's name as the Presidential candidate, the BJD is whole-heartedly supporting the prominent tribal leader," senior MP and BJD Parliamentary Party leader Arjun Charan Sethi said.

Recalling that BJD supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was the first to moot the name of Sangma for the top post, Sethi said "there has been no change in our party's stand on the issue."

He said senior BJD leaders, who held a series of meetings and discussed the issue threadbare at the Chief Minister's residence since Friday night, were strongly in favour of supporting Sangma.

Meanwhile, undaunted by threat of disciplinary action by NCP leadership, Sangma also stuck to his decision to remain in the race for presidency.

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