Met Sonia over presidential poll: Mulayam

New Delhi, June 16 (IANS) Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose sudden U-turn helped the Congress isolate Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in the presidential poll nomination, Saturday said he met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi after proposing the three new names.

"I met Sonia Gandhi after proposing the three names along with Mamata Banerjee," Mulayam Singh told CNN-IBN new channel.

He said he met Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Gandhi's political adviser Ahmed Patel before meeting the Congress president.

On Wednesday, Banerjee and Mulayam Singh had virtually rejected the Congress nominees -- Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari -- by suggesting the candidature of Manmohan Singh along with former president APJ Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

The Congress rejected their proposal the next day.

In a sudden shift, the Samajwadi Party expressed support for UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee after Gandhi announced his name Friday.