Prez polls: Govt working towards consensus on candidate

"This is a very big issue. No political party has majority. If a Presidential candidate has to be nominated it has to be done with cooperation and agreement of all," Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told the media in New Delhi.

He was asked to comment on Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's remarks that he favoured a "non- political" person as a candidate for the Presidential election.

Azad said in a democracy whenever such an issues are discussed, it is the right of every group and every leader to put across his views.

"We have been working towards a consensus," said HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, who was flanked by Azad, Parliamentary Affairs P K Bansal and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy at a press conference.

"We have been working on that and will continue to work on that," Azad said.

Pratibha Patil's term as President of India ends in July.