Presidential Election 2017: Leaders of 17 opposition parties attend Sonia Gandhi's lunch

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday hosted a luncheon meet where deliberation on a consensus candidate for the upcoming Presidential Election was expected to take place.

Leaders of 17 Opposition parties -- including old arch-rivals -- attended the meet on a day that also marks the third anniversary of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad were among the leaders who attended luncheon in Parliament to promote opposition unity.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not attend the meet because of a prior engagement.

The Trinamool Congress chief met Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week also and had conveyed that her party was in favour of a consensus candidate for the Presidential Election.

Among the names doing the rounds as the opposition's consensus candidates are of former governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar.

The term of President Pranab Mukherjee ends in July. The ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, which has a clear edge in the Presidential Election, has not given any inkling so far on its choice of candidate.