Nitish favours second term for Pranab but says it is for Centre to take a call

15 May, Patna

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today confirmed his support for giving second term to Pranab Mukherjee as the President, saying what could be better than giving him another opportunity to serve the country but it was for the Centre to take a call and evolve consensuson the issue.

Kumar told media persons here that it was the responsibility of the ruling party at the Centre to evolve a consensus on the candidature of presidential elections due in July this year. No such indication was visible yet from the ruling party at the Centre and it was natural for the opposition to make an attempt to field its own candidate in the election, in such a given scenario, he pointed out.

chief minister, responding to a query on whether it would be an easy task for evolving a consensus if Mukherjee was considered for the second term as president, said what could be better than giving him another opportunity to serve the nation but it was for the Centre totake a call on the issue.

Kumar said it had been the practice in the past for the ruling party trying to evolve a consensus on the issue of presidential candidate.