R Rajagopalan reports:

Former Janata Dal-United chief and Rajya Sabha member Sharad Yadav is likely to be projected as the common candidate of the entire Opposition for the Presidential election scheduled to be held in July.

Sources in the Congress and the Left parties are discussing his name.

Another name which came up for discussion was that of Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari.

However, he is said to be not keen to contest as the numbers are with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Being a former diplomat, he is satisfied with a 10-year term as the Vice President, which will end in August 2017.

Sources said 12 opposition parties, which were contacted by Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury, have in principle agreed on Yadav's name.

The CPI-M wants to ensure that the BJP candidate for the Presidential poll is not elected unopposed and there is a token fight.