New Delhi: Trinamool Congress and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may oppose Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's candidature for the President's post, sources said on Wednesday.
Sources said that Mamata is very much decisive that Pranab Mukherjee shouldn't be President. They said that Mamata will propose the names of Meira Kumar, APJ Abdul Kalam and Gopal Gandhi to the UPA chairperson in the meeting on Wednesday evening.
However, Mamata will only play her card after the Congress makes its candidature clear, sources said.
While speaking to reporters, Mamata said President poll and demanding financial package for West Bengal are separate issues. "Our demand for three-year moratorium on debt repayment should not be linked to Presidential polls," she says.
Reports say that Mamata doesn't want to be cornered in accepting Congress's choice for the Presidential election and she would rather use Samajwadi Party's supremo Mulayam singh Yadav's support and put a counter choice to them.
No breakthrough is expected in the next couple of days on the issue. A meeting of the UPA is expected between June 23-30; only then will some clear names emerge.
Interestingly, SP chief Mulayam doesn't have any problems with Pranab Mukherjee's candidature, as the reports suggest. Despite Mamata tying to drum up support with Mulayam, the SP chief had earlier made it clear that he was for a political candidate in the race to the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday got an invite from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too. Reports said that the Prime Minister will meet Mamata at 6 pm on Wednesday.
It seems that the firebrand Bengal leader will have a busy Wednesday evening as she is scheduled to meet Mulayam Singh Yadav after meeting both the top Congress leaders.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is the first choice for the post of President for the Samajwadi Party, sources have indicated. They said that there have been informal talks between the Congress and Samajwadi Party on the issue.
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