Sharad Pawar says 'happy to continue my service' after declining Prez poll offer

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday put out his statement that he has declined the proposal of the opposition parties to suggest his name as a candidate for the election of the President of India. "I am happy to continue my service for the wellbeing of the common man," Pawar tweeted explaining why he said 'no' to the proposal. Also Read: 'You have not seen Akhilesh, Mufti together': At opposition meet, Mamata thrashes 'bulldozing' govt

After Sharad Pawar declined the offer, Mamata Banerjee suggested the names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi as opposition candidate for the election, RSP's NK Premchandran who attended the opposition leaders' meeting in New Delhi said.

Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee had last week invited leaders of opposition political parties to produce 'a confluence of opposition voices' for the July 18 election. Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel of the NCP, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala of the Congress, H D Deve Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S), Akhilesh Yadav of the SP, Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP and Omar Abdullah of the National Conference attended the meeting on Wednesday, while TRS, AAP and BJD stayed away.

At the meeting, it has been decided that the opposition will go for a unanimous presidential candidate.

The BJP, on the other hand, began the consultation exercise for the presidential election with senior party leader Rajnath Singh speaking to Mamata Banerjee, Congress's Mallikarjun Kharge and Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, news agency PTI reported. Rajnath Singh made the calls on the same day the opposition parties sat for a meeting to discuss on the same issue. Rajnath Singh also called Janata Dal (United) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to deliberate upon the presidential polls.

(With agency inputs)