Pranab for president! You bet

The Congress-led UPA appears to be ahead of others in the presidential race with even an NDA ally — the Janata Dal (United) — making friendly noises.

Though the Congress is still to officially name someone for the president's post, the political tide is in favour of vice-president Hamid Ansari and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. 

It is clear that the Congress is gradually working towards extracting a commitment from three parties that command substantial votes. One of the parties is its own volatile coalition partner, the Trinamool Congress. The two others, which frequently support Congress from the outside, are Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party.

Senior Congress leaders say there is no hurry as there is time till mid-July to decide on a candidate. Several Congress MPs feel Mukherjee and Ansari are formidable nominees.

While some like the usually candid Satyavrat Chaturvedi think that Mukherjee should be allowed to fulfil his ambition, there are others like Renuka Chaudhury who believe it will be difficult for the party to let him go.

Some Congressmen say it is difficult to understand Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee. She has not given any commitment even after two rounds of discussions - first with senior minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday night and then with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday afternoon.

At present, she is more concerned with the financial crisis in West Bengal and she is carefully watching the Centre’s response to her demand for a three-year moratorium on the interest payable by her state. She is staying in the capital till the NCTC meet on Saturday and a lot depends on how she reacts to the central aid offered for Bengal.

Banerjee is playing her own little game during her stay in the capital. Apart from meeting the Congress chief, she spent some time with Mulayam Singh Yadav. Unlike Banerjee, Mulayam is almost on board. He told reporters on Thursday that the president should be a "political" person, which many have interpreted as his preference for Mukherjee.

The Congress has sent feelers to Mulayam and Mayawati. The SP chief is carefully studying the Congress approach towards building a consensus. Now that he is a major player, following the success in UP polls, he wants to be wooed.

The BSP has not said anything till now. Mayawati, now a Rajya Sabha MP, is spending more time in the capital and she will certainly work out her own deal with the Congress.  

But the Congress has reasons to cheer. Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar have broken ranks with the NDA and questioned senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj's wisdom in describing Ansari as a person without "stature".

In fact, even on Thursday, senior JD(U) leader Shivanand Tewari said both Ansari and Mukherjee were widely acceptable candidates. A senior Congress leader pointed out that these "generous remarks" do not mean JD(U) is thinking of making a clean break with its senior NDA partner, the BJP. It only means that the JD(U) may push the BJP towards the consensus being forged by the Congress.

The Left parties will meet on Friday to chalk out a plan of action. But CPI general secretary AB Bardhan said he was not averse to a consensus choice. CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the Left did not object to Mukherjee's name when it came up in 2007. And Ansari was virtually a Left candidate then.

In fact, the Trinamool chief might find Ansari's close links with the Left irksome. Also, she might not be too happy with Mukherjee, mostly because of his good chemistry with the communists. She even told reporters that the Congress had not named Mukherjee as a candidate.

At present, Ansari and Mukherjee have surged ahead. Both stand a better chance of making it to the post because the UPA, along with the SP and BSP, has the numbers. But the path is still uncertain and the Congress might just spring a surprise by fielding a wild card entry.