NDA to announce presidential candidate by June 20: Sources

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA is likely to announce its candidate for the upcoming presidential elections on June 20, said an ANI report. 

As per the report, the NDA coalition's yet-unannounced presidential nominee will file the nomination papers for the poll by June 23.

The government formally began its outreach on Friday with the opposition on the presidential election with Union ministers Rajnath Singh and M. Venkaiah Naidu meeting Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

The two-member team later met CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat to seek the party's support.

The opposition, however, remained apprehensive as the BJP's two-member team did not disclose the name of their presidential nominee.

"The BJP leaders did not give any name to Congress President Sonia Gandhi but they wanted us to reveal the name of our candidate. We were expecting them to disclose the name so that we can discuss it in our party and other opposition parties," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was present at the meeting, told the media.

Singh and Naidu are part of the three-member team constituted by Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah for discussion with political parties for the presidential polls.

They also met with senior L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to discuss the candidate for the next President of India.

While the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has assured Naidu that his party would stand by the decision of the Prime Minister, Pawar told him that he would come to Delhi and discuss the issue. 
Meanwhile, BJP ally Shiv Sena floated the name of eminent agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan for the top job if its "first choice" RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat was not acceptable.

According to the reports, the NDA will chair a meeting before June 20 to decide on the name of presidential candidacy. The nominee name will be announced with the general consent of allies.