Parties, allies divided over Presidential candidate

The ongoing Presidential race has divided parties and alliances across the political spectrum which are facing a piquant situation following revolt by their constituents over the choice of candidate.

The ruling United Progressive Alliance experienced the most dramatic turn of events with eight-year-old ally Trinamool Congress rejecting the official nominee of the alliance Pranab Mukherjee and backing a candidate in A P J Abdul Kalam, who refused to contest finally.

As the Congress is still hopeful of mollifying Banerjee to vote for its nominee, Shakeel Ahmad, All India Congress Committee in-charge of West Bengal expressed confidence "Mamata Banerjee was our valued ally, Mamata Banerjee is our valued ally and Mamata Banerjee will remain our valued ally".

His comments came days after party general secretary Digvijay Singh slammed Banerjee's 'erratic' and 'immature' handling of the Presidential election issue.

The Samajwadi Party, which is supporting the government from outside, made curious twists and turns by first joining hands with Banerjee in rejecting the UPA nominees and then rallying behind Mukherjee.

Not to be left behind, the National Democratic Alliance camp is also facing similar troubles. Despite a dominant section in the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as its patron, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in favour of a contest, ally Shiv Sena declared its support for Pranab Mukherjee while another constituent of the Opposition alliance Janata Dal-United stopped short of making its support to UPA nominee public

On Monday, BJP Member of Parliament Maneka Gandhi batted for Pranab Mukherjee hailing him as an 'excellent candidate' for the post even as the BJP is yet to firm a position on either contest or consensus on the Presidential election. Gandhi said the election of the President should be by a consensus.

An NDA ally leader speaking on condition of anonymity said, "There are two views within the BJP, there are many views within the NDA over the President election."

While UPA ally Sharad Pawar is canvassing support for Mukherjee, his party leader P S Sangama has jumped into the Presidential fray.

Backed by Biju Janta Dal and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Sangama has so far refused to back out despite dismissal threats by the party.

In an interesting development, a JD-U MP on Tuesday wrote to party President Sharad Yadav slamming him for not proposing his name as Presidential candidate in the meeting of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

"You are the NDA convenor. Not proposing my name in the (NDA) meeting only sends out the message that the Backward community consists only of Yadavs. Had there been a Yadav candidate, there was a distinct possibility that you would have supported his candidature," Jai Narain Prasad Nishad, Lok Sabha MP from Muzaffarpur said.