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| Politics
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| Mamata will back UPA candidate |
| Mamata will back UPA candidate for President, say sources; will meet PM today
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| INDIA
, 3-May-2012
3:43:43 AM |
| Mamata Banerjee has reportedly agreed that she will go along with the candidate selected by the ruling coalition, the UPA, for the elections for the President of India. Ms Banerjee, who is the chief minister of West Bengal, is a senior member of the coalition, but has never let that hold her back from publicly differing with the government on major policies. She is scheduled to meet the Prime Minister this evening. Her stand on the presidential elections may depend heavily on how the government reacts to her demand for a moratorium or abeyance of the interest her state owes for loans that run into thousands of crores.
This week the Congress, which leads the UPA, has been carefully consulting its different allies to ensure they will back its Presidential candidate. The election is scheduled for June; Pratibha Patil's five-year term ends in July.
The Congress is keen on fielding either Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee or Vice-President Hamid Ansari as the UPA's choice. "Pranab da is such a valuable person for us in the party...we can't even measure his contribution...Pranab da has a very active mind...he understands politics really well...Pranab da is a very valuable guide for us...I want to see him in many posts...I am really a big fan of his," party leader Renuka Chowdhury said.
Sources say Ms Banerjee, who is in Delhi, has conveyed to senior minister Kamal Nath this morning that she has no preference, and that it is upto Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the UPA, to decide on the coalition's candidate. Earlier this week, another senior partner in the UPA, M Karunanidhi, also told the Congress that both men are acceptable to him. Mr Karunanidhi heads the DMK. Ms Banerjee has also said, sources say, that she will not support APJ Abdul Kalam, who has served as president earlier, and whose candidature has been discussed among some parties.
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