INDIA NEWS
Bringing an end to weeks of speculation, India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was Friday chosen by the country's ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as its candidate for the president's post.
The nomination of Mukherjee, 77-year-old Congress veteran from West Bengal's Bankura district, was made at a meeting of the UPA, chaired by its Chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Mukherjee, if elected, would be the first Bengali to become the Indian president.
Key ally -- Trinamool Congress -- chief Mamata Banerjee along with another ally Samajwadi Party (SP) has floated the names of APJ Abdul Kalam and two others.
Mamata, however, did not attend the UPA meeting.
Mukherjee, who was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1969, was for a long time member of the Upper House before his first direct election to Lok Sabha in 2004 from Jangipur in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.
He repeated his victory in 2009 elections but had expressed a desire not to contest elections again in view of his advancing age.
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