President polls: Pranab to start his campaign today

New Delhi: UPA Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee will kickstart his campaign for the July 19 election from Chennai on Saturday.

Mukherjee is scheduled to meet key ally DMK chief M Karunanidhi at his residence and other leaders to canvass for his candidature in the evening. He will later meet the UPA's MPs and MLAs.

He will visit Hyderabad and Bangalore on Sunday.

Pranab Mukherjee is expected to meet DMK supremo M Karunanidhi and other leaders in Tamil Nadu to canvass for his candidature.

Mukherjee will visit Uttar Pradesh on July 3 where BSP supremo Mayawati is hosting a lunch in his honour.

The UPA candidate is expected to visit Kolkata either on July 7 or 8 during which he is likely to meet Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

After filing his nomination papers for the elections on Thursday, Mukherjee had said that he will start his campaign on June 30 and continue till July 15.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who has been appointed as Mukherjee's election representative, appealed to all parties to support the UPA nominee considering his stature in national politics.

Bansal said he was hopeful that Banerjee would come on board ultimately.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid expressed the hope that Mamata will finally support Mukherjee's candidature and said "one should always be optimist in politics".

The result of the Presidential election would be announced on July 22.

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