Congress rejects Mamata, Mulayam Presidential choices

New Delhi: The Congress party on Thursday rejected the three names proposed by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and maintained that the ruling party would try to build a consensus on either of its choices -- finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and vice president Hamid Ansari.

Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi told reporters that the party could not spare Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the post. Singh was one of the three suggested by Yadav and Banerjee.

“We cannot accept the other two names,” he said, referring to A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Somnath Chatterjee.