— Photo: S. Subramanium

BIRTHDAY WISHES: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, who turned 60 on Monday, offers a piece of cake to his wife Rabri Devi during his birthday celebrations in New Delhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Dr. Singh's wife Gurshar an Kaur and Mr. Prasad's family members are with him.

NEW DELHI: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is expected to finalise its nominee for President this week, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have resumed consultations.

Ms. Gandhi, who returned here from the Netherlands on Monday morning, had a meeting with the Prime Minister in the evening where, according to sources, the issue figured.

Later, Ms. Gandhi had a separate meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati at the latter's residence. According to sources in the UPA, the BSP — whose support is crucial to ensuring a smooth sailing to its nominee — has promised to go along with the alliance in New Delhi.

Karunanidhi coming

According to reports here, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi is scheduled to reach the capital on Tuesday for a final round of consultations among the allies and supporting parties.

The Left parties, which have openly supported the candidature of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, seem to have reservations about the choice of Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who has emerged the frontrunner. Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan told The Hindu that Left leaders would discuss the presidential poll among themselves on Tuesday after CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat returned from abroad.

Pawar meets Patil

The Nationalist Congress Party, which earlier indicated that it was not exactly happy with Mr. Patil's candidature, now says it will go with the UPA decision. Union Agriculture Minister and NCP president Sharad Pawar had a meeting with Mr. Patil and Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram here. They were at an official meeting in connection with disaster management and they later met separately.

The Congress said it was open to the idea of consultations with the Opposition."We are open in this regard,'' party spokesperson Satyavrat Chaturvedi told reporters to a question whether the Congress would hold consultations with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

On Sunday, the BJP ruled out NDA support for the UPA candidate, after Dr. Singh made a suggestion to this effect. The Election Commission notification is expected on Wednesday.

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