Notwithstanding the ruling Congress remaining undecided on who should be its presidential candidate, Congress members of Parliament and members of Legislative Assembly have come out in open demanding the post for Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The campaign is led by West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Pradeep Bhattacharya and party MPs Adhir Chowdhury and Deep Dasmunshi as a counter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee opposing Mukherjee's candidature.
The Trinamool Congress chief named Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and former president APJ Abdul Kalam as "best suited" for the job.
Parliamentarians from West Bengal decided to lobby for Mukherjee as the 'son of Bengal' instead of waiting for a final word from the Congress leadership.
The MPs and MLAs will be heading to Delhi next week to persuade Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to nominate Mukherjee for the president's post. However, the Congress leaders from Bengal will not lobby for him without his tacit approval,
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