New Delhi: A contest appears imminent for the August 12 Vice-Presidential election with the Congress on June 5 announcing that it would field a candidate, and accused Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani of adopting a "confrontationist" approach on the issue.

"We deplore the confrontationist approach of Advani. We have all along been keen on getting consensus evolved on the Vice-President. Since Advani has ruled out consultations with the Opposition, we will be fielding our own candidate," party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters.

Stating that Congress would be holding consultations with all secular Opposition parties before a candidate is chosen, he said he saw no difficulty in reaching an understanding with the Left parties on the issue despite differences over the Presidential elections.

Asked whether Congress would play second fiddle to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as had happened in the Presidential election, he said agreeing to a "reasonably fair name does not mean playing second fiddle".

Replying to another query, he said merit of a candidate was more important than the party putting him up.

When asked whether the party would hold consultations with secular constituents of NDA, he said the secular partners of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were still in a state of "daze". "There was so complete domination of NDA by BJP that NDA has submerged and BJP has emerged," he quipped.

Asked whether the party would favour the candidature of Vice-President Krishan Kant, he said, "We can indicate our preferences only if there is a consensual process."

PTI