Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress will,after all,participate in the July 19 presidential election. The party had earlier taken a tentative stand of abstaining from voting after Mamatas stand-off with the central Congress leadership. The first signs of a change in stand became evident when on Monday night party MPs and MLAs were distributed forms and told to cast their votes in the presidential poll at the Assembly here. Mamata convened the meeting Monday night where one of the agendas was the presidential poll. Several MPs and MLAs,who did not want to be named,confirmed to The Indian Express that the message was categorical and clear from her that party MLAs and MPs will vote in the presidential poll in Kolkata and not in Delhi. The name of the candidate will be announced 72 hours before polling,Mamata told the legislators. It is more or less final now that we are going to vote, said one of the MPs. There are fast unfolding developments now. Though Didi has not yet indicated whom we should vote for. Interestingly,West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday and reportedly backed the state governments demand for a special economic package. It was largely because of former finance minister Pranab Mukherjees denial of out-of-turn economic assistance for the state that had upset Mamata and kept her from endorsing his presidential candidature. Ever since,Mukherjee has made repeated appeals to the Trinamool Congress chief to vote for him as he was the UPAs nominee and her party was a partner in the alliance. Mukherjee even described Mamata as his sister. All these may have softened Mamatas stand towards him,say party leaders. But what might really come as a face saver for Mamata to vote for Mukherjee is some kind of announcement from Delhi regarding the financial package. The Governors meeting in this regard assumes significance and there is fresh hope in the state government about some additional dose of finances before or after the presidential poll. Besides,a personal appeal from the Prime Minister to Mamata is very much on the cards,according to party sources. A meet between Mukherjee and Mamata is also not being ruled out,say Congress and Trinamool leaders. Mukherjee is coming to the state for campaigning on July 9.
