Allies reject Pranab,mock PM

Then,less than an hour later,with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav by her side,she sprang a surprise when both suggested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as President — UPA critics called this a vote of no-confidence against the Prime Minister.

Banerjee and Yadav mentioned two more names: former President A P J Abdul Kalam and former Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. In an electoral college of 10,98,882,the TMC has 48,044 votes while the SP has 68,771. Without their support,the UPA lacks the numbers to get its candidate elected.

Effectively,therefore,if the two allies insist,they can derail the Congress’s choice for President unless the Congress dares them to vote against its candidate. Until late tonight,however,there was no word from the party with some leaders saying,in private,that they would do all it takes to ensure that Mukherjee,“the party’s first choice,” gets the job.

That’s not going to be easy given that Mamata and Mulayam didn’t mention Mukherjee’s name when they said that they “want a president who has good knowledge of the constitution and can head the nation with dignity.”

Said Banerjee: “We have come up with these three names and we appeal to all political parties to consider them.”

Congress sources said that the party is unlikely to support the candidature of either Kalam or Chatterjee and could ill-afford to favour the PM’s candidature given the fact that it would tantamount to a vote of no-confidence in him.

At a meeting with Sonia about a month ago,Banerjee had expressed reservations against both Mukherjee and Ansari but the Congress was hopeful of getting her around as it engaged its ally to work out a solution to the West Bengal Chief Minister’s demand for a three-year moratorium on debt repayment. Mukherjee held discussions with West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on this issue last Monday but expressed the Centre’s inability to concede to the state’s demand.