Two JMM leaders attend Mamata meet on presidential poll

: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha representatives - MP Vijay Kumar Hansdak and minister in Hemant Soren cabinet Hafizul Hassan - attended the opposition parties' meet over the Presidential election convened by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Both the leaders were nominated by the party to represent JMM and the state government as chief minister Hemant Soren had expressed inability to attend the meeting in the wake of "unforeseen developments" in the state.
Both the JMM representatives expressed eagerness of the party to support a consensus candidate of the opposition for the Presidential polls. They said that around 16 of the 22 opposition parties, invited for the meeting, could mark their attendance.
"This was the first round of meeting in which we all agreed to field a consensus candidate of the opposition but a decision on the name of the candidate remained pending after NCP leader Sharad Pawar turned down the offer of candidature," JMM spokersperson and central general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said.
The opposition parties were given a chance to propose the names of candidates of their choice so that they can be discussed but JMM refused to propose any name. "Given the strength we have in the house, there was no point proposing any name, but we are ready to support the consensus candidate of the opposition," Bhattacharya said.
JMM insiders, however, said the party would be in a difficult situation if NDA proposes the name of Droupadi Murmu, former Jharkhand governor as the consensus candidate of the NDA camp. JMM being a tribal party is likely to support her candidature but the party is not ready to reveal its stand officially.