Kalam the best candidate for president: Mamata

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is the Trinamool Congress' first choice and the "best candidate" for president, party chief Mamata Banerjee announced Thursday.

"Kalam is the best candidate possible, he is our first choice. We had asked for a consensus candidate, that's why we gave so many names," Banerjee told reporters here.

"We want consensus on Kalam," she added.

Banerjee also said that she will not go back on the names she and Samajwadi Party supreme Mulayam Singh Yadav had proposed Wednesday.

The two leaders had proposed the names of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

She also dared the Congress to sever links with her party, saying while the Trinamool had not severed ties with the United Progressive Alliance, the Congress was free to break with her party.