Former Lok Sabha speaker and presidential hopeful P.A. Sangma Saturday said his daughter and union minister Agatha Sangma was not campaigning for him and that she will go by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate.
“She came with me to meet Jayalalithaa as a representative of tribal people and at that time I was not projected as a presidential candidate. But since then it has been finalised, she has stopped going anywhere to seek support for me,” Sangma said during an interaction at the Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) here.
Sangma said Agatha will go by what their party, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the UPA decide.
Replying to a question what advice would he give to her as a father, Sangma said: “Nobody can tell who is going to vote for whom and it will be a secret ballot.”
He said he has no objections to NCP chief Sharad Pawar criticising him for projecting himself as a presidential candidate.
“Sharad Pawar's stand is correct from his point of view as he is part of UPA but I am an NCP member in Meghalaya where Congress is in power and we are in opposition,” Sangma said candidly.
He said that NCP has two types of relationships with the Congress -- an ally in Delhi and Maharashtra but rivals in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala and Meghalaya.