Sharad Pawar has declined Sonia Gandhi's offer to be Presidential hopeful: NCP

New Delhi: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday said its pioneer Sharad Pawar has declined the offer of Congress President Sonia Gandhi to be the restriction competitor in the presidential decision.

Gandhi has stepped up with regards to converse with pioneers of restriction gatherings to handle an agreement competitor.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee approached Gandhi on Tuesday to talk about an agreement possibility for the presidential decision.

Gandhi hosts addressed Samajwadi Gathering pioneer Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD boss Lalu Prasad and met JD-U pioneer and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Communist Party of India-Marxist pioneer Sitaram Yechury and National Conference pioneer Omar Abdullah.

The term of President Pranab Mukherjee closes in July. The decision BJP-drove National Democratic Alliance, which has clear edge in the presidential race, has not given any notion so far on its decision of competitor.

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Presidential Election 2017: Day in the wake of meeting Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee to hold converses with Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is probably going to meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday to talk about the forthcoming Presidential Election.

She is additionally learnt to have upheld another term for President Pranab Mukherjee if the administration proposes his name, sources said. Remarkably, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had on Monday recommended that Mukherjee be given another term.

Banerjee said no names were talked about at the 40-minute meeting, which was additionally gone to by Congress VP Rahul Gandhi.

The West Bengal CM included Sonia Gandhi, who hosts been holding chats with restriction gatherings to choose a typical hopeful, will hold encourage counsels and she would again meet her in about seven days after the procedure is finished.

The term of President Pranab Mukherjee closes in July. The decision BJP-drove National Democratic Alliance, which has clear edge in the Presidential Election, has not given any notion so far on its decision of applicant.

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Italy May Out PM Modi Meeting If...': Agusta Middleman's New Claim

Italy will out a private conversation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he allegedly asked for information against Sonia Gandhi if Delhi does not release an Italian marine, claims Christian Michel, a man India wants extradited from the UK for its investigations into the AgustaWestland chopper scam.

Mr Michel, an alleged middleman, has suggested in an exclusive interview to NDTV that the Italian government "may do something unpleasant" if a marine charged with murder is not released by India. The "unpleasant" move would be to "admit to a meeting" between PM Modi and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, he said.

Both governments have emphatically denied that PM Modi met with his Italian counterpart in New York on the sidelines of a UN conference and offered to release the two marines facing trial in India on murder charges in exchange for information about the Agusta chopper deal that could embarrass or implicate Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Mr Michel insisted that the meeting did happen, arguing that the governments had only denied a formal bilateral. "Under the auspices of the UN bilateral discussions there was no meeting. I am talking about a casual brush-by meeting which has plausible deniability attached to it," he said, claiming that the Italian embassy in Delhi briefed Agusta's parent company Finmeccanica about the meeting, which in turn informed him.

He refused to reveal the name of the embassy official citing "very delicate negotiations" between the two countries on whether the marine will return to Italy. The two marines are accused of killing Indian fishermen in 2012; one of them has been allowed to return over health reasons while the other remains in Delhi. Italy says the marines mistook the fishermen for pirates.

"They (Italy) are very upset with the Congress for not supporting them on marines issue. They have a new government and a new opportunity to solve the issue. There is a suggestion of the deal on the table of the way of doing it...the trouble with the suggestion of the deal is it requires an illegal act to have happened involving Mrs Gandhi, which hasn't happened... and I knew it would be a mess," Mr Michel told NDTV.

On the possibility of India not sending the marines home, Mr Michel replied: "If the basis of a deal is flawed, the deal will collapse...the honourable prime minister is in a horrible position - if he lets the marine go, he will be accused of a deal. If he doesn't let him go, the Italians may do something unpleasant - admit to a meeting".

The scandal over kickbacks allegedly paid by Agusta middlemen in India resurfaced after a court verdict in Milan last month. The BJP has alleged that documents attached to the verdict give new proof that Congress leaders helped Agusta swing the deal to provide a dozen choppers to India.

Mr Michel raises very awkward questions for the Congress after he confirmed that he did describe Sonia Gandhi in a 2008 note as "the driving force" of the decision to acquire new helicopters for use by top politicians.

"The note is genuine. We were asked who are the important people in India today and we sent the message," he said. Asked to explain why the note suggested the British High Commissioner should "target" Mrs Gandhi and her advisers, Mr Michel said: "It is a note about lobbying, not kickbacks."

SOurce: http://www.ndtv.com