 "(From left) West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge and DMK’s T R Baalu after the Opposition leaders' meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday.")
The search for the next President of India got more interesting on Wednesday, with Defence Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajnath Singh speaking to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to see if the Opposition and the government could build a bipartisan consensus on one name. Singh’s intervention came after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar signalled his unwillingness to be the Opposition’s candidate. Singh also spoke to the Congress party's Mallikarjun Kharge, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik, and the Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav.
Earlier in the day, Banerjee spearheaded a meeting of Opposition
