 Narayanan offered to be a consensus candidate.Opposition parties (including the Congress, the Left Front, Janata Dal (Secular), and various regional parties) supported a second term for him, and Sonia Gandhi met him to request his candidature; Vajpayee then met Narayanan, informed him that there was no consensus within the NDA on the question, and advised against his candidature.The NDA then proposed to elevate the Vice-President Krishan Kant as a consensus; this drew support from the opposition and an agreement to this effect was conveyed by Vajpayee's representative to the Congress.