With Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee maintaining suspense on her party's role in the presidential elections, her party has been excluded by the Congress in its calculations for the vice president's election on August 7.
"Even without her, we have over 60 per cent votes that may go up with others' support and hence we are just not counting on Trinamool," a Congress functionary said on Monday.
This stand runs alongside the public posturing of continuing to appeal to Mamata to support Pranab Mukherjee in the President's election.
It explains why she has not even been approached while the consultation process for the vice president's election is in an advanced stage and while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took into confidence even insignificant players like former premier H D Deve Gowda whose Janata Dal (Secular) has just three votes of himself, son Kumaraswamy and Mandya MP N Chaluvaraya Swamy as against Trinamool's 25 in the electoral college of 790.