Presidential poll: Congress wooing MNS

The Congress in Maharashtra is making all efforts to woo the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena to back United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee for the presidential poll on Thursday.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is understood to have phoned Thackeray, seeking the support of the MNS, which has 12 members in the 288-member Legislative Assembly.

During his visit to Mumbai earlier this month, the National Democratic Alliance-backed presidential candidate P A Sangma had also sought Raj Thackeray's support.

However, the Congress feels it would manage to get the MNS boss' nod. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Patil is holding talks with MNS leaders, sources said. The minister has also spoken to MNS Member of Legislative Assembly Bala Nandgaonkar.

Following is the party position in Assembly, where each vote has value of 175:

Congress 82, Independents (with Congress) 12, Bahujan Republican Party 1, Swabhimani Paksha 1. The Nationalistic Congress Party has 62, Independents (with NCP) 11, Rashtriya Samaj Party 1, Samajwadi Party 3, Peasants and Workers Party  4, Jansurajya Party 2, Communist Party of India 1.

So, in all, 228 MLAs are with the UPA nominee. On the other hand, Sangma is expected to get support of following members: the Bharatiya Janata Party 47, Independent (Anil Gote) . Total 48.

There are altogether 48 Lok Sabha and 19 Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra. The value of an member of Parliament's vote is 708.

Following is party position. Congress 17 in Lok Sabha, 6 in Rajya Sabha: NCP 9 LS, 4 RS; Shiv Sena 11 LS, 3 RS; Bahujan Vikas Aghadi 1; Independent (Sadashiv Mandlik) 1.

So, the total votes in favour of UPA nominee are 39 Lok Sabha and 13 Rajya Sabha members. On the other hand, Sangma is expected to get the 8 LS votes and 6 RS votes of BJP.

Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana member Raju Shetty is yet to announce his stance. The voting will be held in the central hall on fourth floor of the Vidhan Bhawan building.