Pawar meets Sonia, assures support to any UPA candidate

Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar on Thursday met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and assured her of support to any candidate that the United Progressive Alliance puts forth.

"I told her (Gandhi) that whoever UPA nominates, we will support," Pawar told reporters after his 30-minute meeting with the Congress chief to discuss the issue of Presidential election.

Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee stunned Congress on Wednesday by disclosing the names under UPA's consideration -- Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari.

She then teamed up with Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav to float the names of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former President A P J Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.