A B Bardhan, general secretary of the Communist Party of India, said that if there was a demand from political parties and the media, his party would favour a woman as the presidential candidate.

He was talking to rediff.com on Sunday afternoon in New Delhi at a specially convened press conference to release four books -- two of them on the 1857 Uprising.

"Yes, we haven't had a woman President and this could certainly be considered by our party," he said.

He denied that the Left parties were against second tenure to be given to President A P J Abdul Kalam because he represented a certain section of the Indian society.

"Is he the sole repository of the miniorities? Before him we had Dr Zakir Hussain, Dr Fakhrudddin Ali Ahmed. We have never opposed second term to him vehemntly," Bardhan said.

It is no secret that Bardhan has been firing shots in this matter on behalf of the Left parties so that a situation could be created whereby the candidate from the Left becomes acceptable to all parties.

"We have not even thought about the candidature for the post of this august office. We will discuss the names only after UP Assembly results," he said.

He ducked the question when asked who in his opinion would be more suitable as candidate for the Presidentship -- former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu or Somnath Chatterjee, speaker of Lok Sabha.

According to sources, the Left parties will not put up a candidate unless they are sure that they are in a position to win.

Last time they put up a candidate against Kalam and lost badly.