New Delhi: AIADMK chief and United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) leader Jayalalithaa on Tuesday demanded that the either UPA should withdraw its Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil or Pratibha herself should withdraw from the race in the interest of the nation.
Jayalalithaa’s demand came following a slew of allegations that have been leveled against Patil.
"In independent India, this is the first time that such charges have been levelled against a Presidential candidate. It is distressing to see that the highest constitutional office in the country had been subjected to mudslinging," news agency PTI quoted the AIADMK chief as saying.
Jayalalithaa added that Pratibha’s candidature had been an "embarrassment" to the nation.
"The nation has been embarrassed in the eyes of the world, because UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi wants a President who will be pliable,” the former Tamil Nadu chief minister was quoted as saying.
Asked if the eight-party non-Congress, non-BJP front, the UNPA, would abstain from voting in the Presidential elections, she said the combine's formal decision would be announced after TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu returned from the US.
She also ruled out supporting NDA backed independent candidate Bhairon Singh Shekawat. The UNPA had taken a collective decision not to support candidates backed by both UPA and NDA.
She also denied any leadership tussle in the fledgling UNPA. "No. nothing of this sort," she said.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the petition, filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, challenging Pratibha Patil’s nomination.
Sharma had moved the SC saying the UPA candidate's nomination be cancelled since the sugar factory of which she was founder member and chairperson owes Rs 17.7 crore to the Mumbai District Co-operative Bank.
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