I am not in Presidential race: Pranab

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee dismissed all reports of his being in the race for Presidency as baseless.

Mukherjee, whose name was doing the rounds in media and political circles, said the reports were were "speculative in nature."

"I would like to state that I am a Congressman. My role in the party and in the Government is decided by the Congress leadership," he was quoted said in a statement here.

Mukherjee insisted he was taking care of the responsibilities assigned to him."Any speculation in this matter should be avoided," he added.

This clarification comes days after PMO completely denied floating specific names for the President's post.

"The Prime Minister has had some preliminary and exploratory discussions on this matter with some political leaders. News reports mentioning specific names are speculative and premature," PM's media adviser Sanjaya Baru was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.

He added that various political parties were consulting each other in this regard.

The PMO clarification comes after reports that the names of senior Congress leaders - External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and veteran Congress leader Karan Singh - are doing rounds in political circles as possible candidates for the next President.

Mukherjee has a parliamentary career of nearly four decades, has handled several ministries and is respected for his experience. But other parties may seem him as too political, shrewd and too much of a Congressman.

Sushil Kumar Shinde was the first Dalit chief minister of Maharashtra and was the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. The Congress’ allies though may doubt whether he has the stature required for the President’s post and the Maratha lobby could go against him.

Karan Singh has handled ministries and was India’s ambassador to the US, he is an intellectual, belongs to the Kashmir royal family and is widely respected. But politically he is on the sidelines.

The President will be elected in July but competition has already gathered pace since the Uttar Pradesh elections results came out. A UP legislator’s vote in the collegiate that elects the President has a value of 203 marks.