Opinion No duffer,no buffer

Unbridgeable gap

Apprehending that Mulayam Singh Yadav is not completely dependable,the Congress does not want to put all its eggs in one basket by allowing Mamata Banerjee to quit the UPA just yet. The West Bengal Congress has been asked to tone down its tirade against Banerjee and not precipitate the crisis. AICC in-charge of West Bengal,Shakeel Ahmed,denied that Banerjee had crossed the line when she suggested Manmohan Singh’s name for president. “Mamata is our valued ally and will remain our valued ally,’’ he said. Now that Kalam is not in the race,the Congress believes it can persuade Banerjee to vote for Pranab Mukherjee. Mukherjee’s additional private secretary,Pradyut Guha,has been sending a series of SMS messages to the TMC chief. Despite the conciliatory noises,the break cannot be mended completely thanks to Banerjee’s own tempestuous behaviour. On her Facebook campaign for Kalam as president,the TMC chief claimed she was a victim of Machiavellian politics. In a meeting with party MLAs and MPs,she referred to the “Italian mafia’’. A guessing game is afoot as to who in the TMC prompted her to make these unfortunate allusions.

Chanakya’s fan

Some two months ago,a new picture appeared in Pranab Mukherjee’s drawing room adjoining his office. It is a portrait of Chanakaya. Mukherjee is presently re-reading the Arthashastra,Chanakya’s treatise on statecraft. He seems to have learned a lesson or two from India’s Machiavelli. There is still speculation in the corridors of power as to just how Mukherjee persuaded his party to make him its presidential candidate when Sonia Gandhi reportedly favoured Hamid Ansari. Contrary to Mamata Banerjee’s understanding,Mulayam Singh Yadav had all along been rooting for Mukherjee. In fact,he was surprised at the Congress high command’s cool response when he first brought up Mukherjee’s name. A senior party functionary who was supposed to get back to Yadav on Mukherjee’s candidature did not revert to him,giving the SP leader the impression that the Congress was not interested in the finance minister becoming president. Thus,when Banerjee conveyed to him that Mukherjee was supposedly the Congress’s first choice,he was totally taken aback.

Stealing their thunder

DMK’s T R Baalu stole the thunder of other allies at the UPA meet convened to announce the alliance’s presidential candidate. Just as UPA leaders were getting ready to second Mukherjee’s nomination,Baalu,armed with three angavastrams,rushed to put a shawl on Sonia Gandhi’s shoulders after she concluded her remarks. He followed this up by honouring both Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee with shawls. This was a good photo-op and the proceedings ended abruptly. Baalu also used the opportunity to dial his boss M Karunanidhi and the DMK chief was the first to congratulate Mukherjee. The presidential candidate agreed to start his campaign from Tamil Nadu. After a period in the shadows,Baalu is back in the limelight. The DMK lost two ministerial slots in the Cabinet when A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran were dropped and Baalu is hopeful of a ministerial berth and has set his sights on the railway ministry.

VP stakes

There are three hopefuls from the NDA for the vice presidential slot—Jaswant Singh,Najma Heptullah and Sharad Yadav. At one point,Sukhbir Singh Badal was keen on his father Prakash Singh Badal,however,the chances of a NDA politician can be ruled out. In the case of the vice president,the electoral college is more decisively weighted in favour of the UPA since it is only MPs from the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha who can vote. The BJP’s self sponsored nominees have the double disadvantage that their party did not even support the UPA’s presidential candidate. Vice President Hamid Ansari is likely to end up with the consolation prize and might be given a second term.