AIADMK, BJD back Sangma for President
Even as the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party continued to keep their counsel on the presidential elections, Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Odisha Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik made a surprise announcement on Thursday: their parties had decided to support the former Lok Sabha Speaker, Purno Agitok Sangma, for the top job. Mr. Sangma's own party, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), however, distanced itself from this pronouncement. “Sangma has not spoken to us. We've had no discussions,” NCP chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said here, stressing, “ … with such a limited strength, we cannot aspire for such a major post.”