NEW DELHI, JUNE 15 (Agencies): Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will run for President as the ruling UPA’s candidate. His candidacy was ratified at a meeting of the Congress’s allies at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s 7 Race Course Road residence today.
Mukherjee is expected to resign as Finance Minister on June 24, after the Prime Minister returns from the G-20 summit in Mexico, and is likely to file his nomination papers on June 25.
Gandhi was the first to arrive for today’s UPA meeting. Dressed in vibrant green and pink, she exuded calm as she took her place beside the PM. Man of the moment, Mr Mukherjee, in a grey bandhgala suit, sat not far away as the allies held discussions.
The support of all its allies – minus Mamata Banerjee, who stands virtually isolated and has returned to Kolkata still asserting that she supports APJ Abdul Kalam for President – was reportedly in the bag by the time the UPA allies met at 4 p.m.
Congress sources also say that back-channel talks have succeeded with Mulayam Singh Yadav and that he is likely to support Mukherjee too. Mamata Banerjee, however, reiterated this morning that Yadav, like her, remains committed to backing former President APJ Abdul Kalam for a second term. Without the support of Banerjee, the UPA has about 38 per cent of the votes in the electoral college that will elect the President. To get past the 50% mark, the Congress is lobbying the Left.
Yadav continues to keep everyone guessing – he travelled to Lucknow via Agra and refused to comment on the presidential election there. A senior leader of his party and his brother, Ram Gopal Yadav, said Yadav will make up his mind at a later point. The silver lining for the Congress is that Ram Gopal Yadav has said that contrary to popular belief, the Samajwadi Party does not want mid-term elections. Ram Gopal however made it clear that their party will not join the UPA coalition, but will continue to provide external support.
Banerjee emphatically denied reports this morning that Yadav is opting out of the liaison they have formed, throwing the Congress into a seizure.
“Our clarion call to all parties…is no jhagda…no ego…we should support APJ Kalam…he can bring glory to the country,” Banerjee said this morning, asserting that the nuclear scientist will run for President. But in Patna, Dr Kalam was circumspect, saying that he would make a decision at a later time. He confirmed that different political leaders – he did not name them – are in touch with him.
Sources say he will not contest the election if there`s a chance that he could lose. Without Yadav`s numbers, Kalam would find it tough to be elected. The opposition BJP is watching the Congress closely. It is not opposed to supporting the Finance Minister, but it has also toyed with backing Dr Kalam.
Just in case Yadav does not deliver, the Congress had phoned its allies ahead of today`s group meeting and warned that the Mamata-Mulayam combine was trying to topple the government.
Banerjee and Yadav would stand to benefit from mid-term elections because they delivered stellar performances in recent elections in their state, and would like to leverage voter sentiment before their honeymoon period expires.
Both the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party are critical to the government`s survival. Here is how the numbers add up in the Lok Sabha – the UPA including the Trinamool make up 274 MPs. The Samajwadi Party has 22 seats in the Lok Sabha, with which it offers outside support. Without the Trinamool`s 20 MPs, and the Samajwadi Party out of the equation, the government will be reduced to a minority of 255, and forced to look for outside support elsewhere. In the electoral college, the two have a crucial 11 per cent and, as such, can push for Dr Kalam as President with the help of the opposition alliance NDA and some others.