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Could Mulayam be persuaded to accept Pranab as president?
Thursday June 14, 2012 06:49:50 PM, Mohit Dubey,
IANS
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Lucknow: Samajwadi
Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was not averse to a "slight
climbdown" on union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as president
but was completely against Vice President Hamid Ansari, his party
indicated Thursday as suspense built up on who could be the next
occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Holding 69,651 votes of the necessary 548,507 votes in the July 19
presidential elections, Mulayam Singh, whose party props the
ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) from outside, knew his
strength and was now using it with "brute force", a close aide
admmitted to IANS on condition of anonymity.
The candid comment came a day after Mulayam Singh teamed up with
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to announce that their
preferred choices for president were Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha
speaker Somnath Chatterjee. The shock list came less than an hour
after Banerjee had announced that the Congress' first choice for
the post was Mukherjee and the second Ansari.
As rumours swirled, the Congress was trying its best to "gauge the
mind" of the Yadav chief, SP insiders told IANS.
Close aides said the SP supremo was in touch with all "like minded
parties" and that he was "connecting" with "people who mattered".
The canny politician knew the stakes and was playing his cards
well to ensure that his nominee would be the Congress' choice as
well.
Sources said Mulayam Singh had been tipped off about the Congress
stance Thursday morning itself, well before the party said that
Manmohan Singh would be prime minister till 2014 and that it
rejected Kalam and Chatterjee as well. He was told that Congress
chief Sonia Gandhi was "personally not inclined" for a re-run for
former president Kalam.
"Neta-ji was sounded that the Congress leadership would not
support the three names he and Mamata didi had announced yesterday
(Wednesday)," said a senior SP leader.
Highly placed sources said the Congress had roped in Rashtriya
Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad as well to gauge Mulayam
Singh's mind but to no avail. Lalu Prasad tried to impress upon
Mulayam Singh that supporting the Congress candidate was a "wise
option" but the wily politician chose not to reveal whether he
would be "accommodative enough".
The SP national president, through trusted aide and party general
secretary Kiranmay Nanda, was also keeping West Bengal Chief
Minister Banerjee in the loop and was "exchanging notes" on the
day's developments.
Party spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhary and close Mulayam aide said
the party stood by Mulayam Singh's candidates and felt that the
names suggested by him were "best options".
Arvind Singh 'Gop', a senior minister in the Akhilesh Yadav
government, echoed the sentiment and said whatever Mulayam Singh
said would be final word, and the outcome of a lot of thought and
due discussion.
Other leaders in the party too chose to be supportive of Netaji's
choice.
(Mohit Dubey can be
contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)
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