New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi is meeting important UPA ally Mamata Banerjee at her residence and with much pressure on the Congress to name its nominee for President, likely candidates are expected to be discussed.
Ahead of the meeting, the West Bengal Chief Minister said, "I am going to meet Sonia Gandhi. Financial package is not related to the Presidential polls; this has been going on for a year. Whenever PM or Sonia Gandhi call me I will go and meet them. That is the decorum of the system. Every time I come to Delhi someone plans to careless decoration, a plantation of rumour."
Ms Banerjee has been busy in the capital. After she arrived from Kolkata last evening, she met Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav and, in a signal that the two crucial regional parties are aligned on the Presidential election issue, Mr Yadav said today, "I will discuss with Mamata Banerjee before deciding our choice of presidential candidate." Ms Banerjee too said she expects to meet Mr Yadav again. That meeting, sources say, will take place immediately after Ms Banerjee's meeting with Mrs Gandhi.
The support of both parties is important for the Congress - Mulayam Singh Yadav, who supports the UPA from outside, has six per cent vital votes in the electoral college that elects the President. Ms Banerjee is no push-over either with her 4.37 per cent votes.
The Congress has so far been mum on who its candidate for President is despite Ms Banerjee making clear that she will officially declare support only once the Congress has named its nominee; Mulayam Singh Yadav too has refused to show his cards till that announcement is made. Now the Opposition has said the Congress must suggest a name. "It is convention that the ruling party proposes a name for President and the opposition thinks it over. The NDA is waiting for the UPA to do that," said Sharad Yadav, JD(U) leader and convenor of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
His party colleague and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, "The government which is sitting in Delhi is a government of give and take. The Congress and UPA should decide very soon whom they are going to nominate for President."
Presidential elections, if there is a contest, will be held on July 19 and the Rashtrapati Bhawan will get its new resident on July 22. So far, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is believed by many to be the front-runner among those vying to be the next President of the country. He cancelled an important trip to Afghanistan this week; his office says he wants to remain in Delhi to monitor the economic slowdown. But in political circles, his presence is being read as a sign that he is on stand-by for the Presidential nomination.
But the Congress is believed to be still calculating the pros and cons of posting Mr Mukherjee's to Rashtrapati Bhawan. It will have to find someone to replace him as Finance Minister, Leader of the Lok Sabha and the party's chief troubleshooter. So the party is said to be ascertaining whether promoting Vice President Hamid Ansari to President would be a better idea.
Mr Yadav is clear that his party prefers a politician to be President rather than a former bureaucrat. That would read Pranab Mukherjee over Hamid Ansari. Other UPA allies like the DMK, Sharad Pawar's NCP and Ajit Singh have said they will back the Congress' nominee.
Nitish Kumar's party has said it prefers Mr Ansari and then Mr Mukherjee in that order. The BJP is yet to announce its party line, sources say it may be willing to back Mr Mukherjee. BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and LK Advani have been assigned to coordinate the party's efforts.
It's not just the post of president that's up for grabs. There is also the post of Vice-President. Jaswant Singh of the BJP, according to sources, is hoping to get that position, and he met Mr Yadav yesterday to ask for his support. But Mr Yadav has reportedly refused to back a BJP candidate. A section of the BJP has reportedly suggested supporting the UPA candidate for president in exchange for Mr Singh being accepted as the Vice President, but the NDA Convenor Sharad Yadav said today that the BJP leader was not the alliance's candidate.
This is how the numbers stack up if there is a contest for the Presidential elections:
If the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's BSP support the UPA, the ruling combine will get 5,71,644 votes in its kitty. That will ensure that the UPA will have 52 per cent, a majority, of the overall votes. But if Ms Banerjee decides to go against the UPA candidate, UPA's vote share will drop to 5,25,719 votes at 48 per cent, shy of a majority.
The presidential election places at par the votes of all MPs with those of all elected members of state legislatures - so regional parties count for a lot. The electoral college for the presidential poll is 4896, constituting 776 Members of Parliament and 4120 Members of Legislative Assemblies, including those of Delhi and Puducherry. The total value of votes is 10,98,882 with that of MLAs being 5,49,474 and that of MPs being 5,49,408. Nominated members of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and state Assemblies are not entitled to vote.
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