President poll: NDA and Left split,Pranab through

Mukherjee,who continued his campaign to contact leaders from the non-Congress non-BJP spectrum by reaching out to JMM leader Shibu Soren and Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy,now has a vote value of at least 6.29 lakh out of the total 10.98 lakh vote value. This is way more than the vote value needed for a win.

With the BJPs backing,Sangma can expect up to 3.10 lakh votes in his favour. But it will be significantly short of the halfway mark of 5.49 lakh votes. Besides the BJP,the only substantial votes that he can expect are those from the AIADMK and BJD,which had initially proposed his candidature,and the Akali Dal.

JDU president Sharad Yadav announced support for Mukherjee this afternoon,soon after the BJP said it had decided to back Sangma. Earlier this week,the Shiv Sena made it clear that it would back Mukherjee.

Left parties too failed to agree on a common stand at a meeting this evening,resulting in the CPM and Forward Bloc deciding to back Mukherjee,and the CPI and RSP opting for abstention.

As the day progressed,it was evident that the UPA had managed to find new friends in support of Mukherjees candidature while the opposition could barely hold on to even its allies.

The BJP announcement by its senior leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley made it clear that the main opposition was left holding a losing hand,even as it bravely sought to project the contest for the presidential stakes as a healthy sign of democracy.

There is no convention that there should not be a contest for the office of the President. We have decided not to give a walkover to the Congress. The BJP has decided to support P A Sangmas candidature, said Sushma Swaraj,Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha,addressing a press conference along with Arun Jaitley,her counterpart in Rajya Sabha. The idea of election is integral to democracy,not alien to democracy, Jaitley said.

The two leaders accepted that the delay in announcing the BJP stand was due to divisions in the NDA. There were two formal meetings of the NDA and some other informal discussions on this issue. But two NDA constituents,Shiv Sena and JDU,are still not in favour of forcing a contest. But as principal Opposition parties,we have decided to force a contest, Swaraj said,regretting their disagreement on the issue.

Describing Sangma as one of the tallest leaders of the country and the tallest leader from the North-Eastamp;148;,Swaraj said the Akali Dal was with the BJP in supporting Sangmas bid to the highest office.

Swaraj and Jaitley faulted the ruling Congress for not holding prior consultation with the Opposition while expecting others to fall in line in the name of consensus after making up its mind unilaterally. They also charged the UPA with political manouevres through the governments investigative agencies to muster support for Mukherjee.

It UPA has succeeded in manipulating a section of the political class by misusing investigative agencies, Jaitley said. It is better you ask those who changed their positions within 24 hours, he said in response to queries regarding his charge it was clearly aimed at SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who broke ranks with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and did a U-turn to support Mukherjee.

The BJP leaders expressed the hope that Banerjee would extend support to Sangma. Mamataji is a senior politician. We hope the logical pursuit of what she has started is to support the Opposition candidate, Jaitley said.

The JDU announcement was made by party president Sharad Yadav who maintained that his party would have been with the BJP had former president A P J Abdul Kalam agreed to contest.

Our party is against any contest now. Till Kalam was the candidate,we were ready for a contest, he told reporters. We are not supporting a Congress candidate. Under the present circumstances,we are supporting a UPA candidate for whom there is consensus, he said.