New Delhi, June 15: Spurred by its revolting allies Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party, the Congress-led ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has finally declared Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, 77-year-old Congress veteran from West Bengal, as its nominee for the Presidential elections.
A formal announcement to this effect was made by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at a brief meeting of the UPA allies held here on Friday. Expectedly, Trinamool Congress chief Mamta Banerjee skipped the meeting after having announced the candidature of former President APJ Abdul Kalam and instead flew to Kolkata.
“Leaders of the constituent parties of the UPA met. It was decided to propose Mr Mukherjee as candidate for the office of the President of India,” Gandhi said at the meeting that lasted nearly an hour.
Although, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance had kept its decision on the Presidential candidate’s choice in abeyance after a brief meeting held early in the day, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh responded quickly and rang up the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, and sought support for Mukherjee. The move is in line with the UPA’s thinking to ensure that he is elected unopposed.
The UPA also appealed to all political parties, including the NDA, as well as MPs and MLAs to endorse Mukherjee’s nomination to the top post. Gandhi’s statement has set the tone for mobilizing support for his candidature across the political spectrum including the opposition camp. Given Mukherjee’s stature and wide-experience as a political leader and trouble-shooter, there are strong chances of his unopposed election.
First indications to this effect was available as the Samajwadi Party, which had earlier joined hands with the Trinamool Congress to promote Dr Kalam, lost no time in welcoming the UPA’s decision. Senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav backed Mukherjee.
Mukherjee’s move to have established contact with the CPM, by calling up former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhatacharya earlier, paid dividends as the party also welcomed his candidature. However, its senior leaders clarified that a formal decision to back Mukherjee will be taken after a meeting of the four Left Parties to be held on June 21.
The opposition and its allies will find it hard to pull together the numbers to take on the Finance Minister with a rival candidate. Former President APJ Abdul Kalam was being eyed by them, but he is reportedly unwilling to run against Mukherjee, who is expected to resign from the Finance Ministry on June 24 after the Prime Minister returns from the G-20 summit in Mexico.
True to the spirit of the statement read out by Gandhi, the UPA particularly the Congress is preparing to make an all-out effort to reach out to all the political parties. In this connection, it is likely that efforts will be made to mollify Banerjee despite reports of both the Congress and the Trinamool Congress camps seriously mulling over snapping political ties with each other.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 15 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 15 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 16 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST