New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday said it will contest the Aug 7 vice presidential poll but failed to decide its candidate due to lack of consensus in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the issue.
“We have decided to contest the vice president election,” BJP leader Ananth Kumar told reporters after the party’s core group met here at party president Nitin Gadkari’s residence.
But he did not give any names of likely candidates.
The party, which wants to field its candidate for the post of vice president, will discuss the likely names with its allies during the NDA meet July 16.
“We will discuss the issue with NDA allies July 16. We will also talk to other political parties,” said Ananth Kumar.
The names of BJP leaders Jaswant Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi have been making the rounds as probable candidates.
However, NDA ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) may support ruling United Progressive Alliance’s nominee Hamid Ansari, said sources.
JD-U and another NDA ally Shiv Sena broke ranks with the BJP to support UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee for the July 19 presidential poll.
