FirstpostEbook eBook 15June2012 Presidentialpoll

7/31/2019 FirstpostEbook eBook 15June2012 Presidentialpoll

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How Mamata and Mulayamhijacked the

Presidential poll
http://www.firstpost.com/


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A President sized bombshell

Presidential poll no more about president 04

Mamata-Mulayam snub Sonia, propose 3 new names for Prez 07

The M&M Factor

Check-mate: Mamata-Mulayam axis has outplayed Sonia 09

The Mamata-Mulayam show: Its nothing beyond posturing 12

PM for prez? Revolt against Sonia, or ploy for mid-term poll? 14

What was she thinking? Behind Mamatas master stroke 17

What next?

Congress slam Mamata for lack of decorum, discourtesy 21

BJP continues with the waiting game on next President 23

Prez poll: Left yet to decide, calls TMC-SP move political 24

Prez poll: Advani, Jaya to coordinate on strategy 25

Mamata, Mulayam open the door for a wildcard President 26

INDEX

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A President sized bombshell


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Presidential pollno more about presidentFor Mulayam and Mamata this is not a race for

Raisina Hill, it is for the ultimate political prize.

Sagarika Ghose, Jun 14, 2012

Wednesday 13 June, a hot Delhi af-ternoon. The day began desultorilyenough with the morning news full

of doom and gloom about the economy. AzimPremji had just said we are a country withouta leader. Narayana Murthy had just lamentedthat Indias image had suffered badly. Corporateleaders had said this is the end of the India sto-ry, the end of reforms, the beginning of decline

and the long hurtle towards a 1991-type crisis.

Politics continued on the presidential elections.A Mumbai resident grumbled on Twitter: does

anyone beyond the Delhi media care about whothe new president is going to be?

But whats this? Why is the temperature risinga little on this long hot afternoon? Rumbus-tious Didi from Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee, andformer wrestler and Lohia-ite netaji MulayamSingh Yadav suddenly explode onto the TVscreens. Mamata Banerjee emerges from her

meeting with Sonia Gandhi and marches to-wards the media. The Congress, announcesMamata, has given me their choice of presi-dential candidates. Pranab is their rst choice,


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Ansari (Hamid Ansari, Vice President) is secondchoice.

Shock gripped the gathered journalists. Thelong awaited Congress presidential choices be-ing publicly announced by Mamata Banerjee?But where were the Congress spokespersons?

Where was Rashid Alvi? Where was RenukaChowdhary? Wasnt anyone from the Congressgoing to speak on their own candidates? Andisnt it a bit humiliating for the Vice Presidentto be referred to casually as Ansari, the secondchoice?

An excited frisson ran through newsrooms.Bored hacks suddenly sat up straight. Newscrews jumped to the ready. Something wasafoot.

An hour later, once again, the anti- Commu-nist heroine from Bengal, and the seasoned

warhorse from Uttar Pradesh faced the cam-eras. The sun beat down mercilessly. The hotafternoon was now fraught with expectation.Mamata and Mulayam publicly rejected theCongress candidates. No to Pranab Mukherjee.No to Hamid Ansari. And lo and behold theyannounced their own: APJ Abdul Kalam, Som-

nath Chatterjee and ..wait for this ..ManmohanSingh!

The hot afternoon plunged into turmoil. Report-ers raced to their OB spots. Editors- in-chiefdashed to studios. Shocked analysts tried toremain calm. Two of the UPAs biggest allies, al-lies on whom the UPA depends for survival, had

just publicly declared that they felt ManmohanSingh would make a better president than prime

minister! They had almost voiced a vote of nocondence in the prime minister himself. Thiswas not a private strategy meeting. This was nota backdoor deal between the Congress and UPAallies. This was a public announcement thatManmohan Singh now belongs to the decorativeMughal gardens and not at the heart of govern-ment.

TV tickers turned to cricket metaphors. Thiswas a googly, a doosra.

Mulayam and Mamata had cocked the veritablesnook at Sonia Gandhi and embarrassed 10 JanPath in public. Not only do we not accept your

choices, Soniaji, we have three of our own andone of them is the PM. Take that!

Wednesday afternoon became a game changerafternoon. The message went out: Take note,citizens of India. The president of India will not

be decided by the Delhi power elite after all.The president of India will not be decided bySonia Gandhi after all. Oh no. The president ofIndia will be decided and appointed only withthe approval of Lucknow and Kolkata and (if itcomes to that) Chennai and Bhubaneswar andPatna. This is a symbol that as far as politics isconcerned, this the end of the rule of the Centreand the beginning of the rule of the States.

The Mumbai resident who asked why the presi-dential election is important had his answer.

The presidential elections have become a testfor the UPA. General Elections could take placefar sooner than we think. None of this is about

who will be the president. Its all about who willbe the new Prime Minister, this year, in 2013 orin 2014.

On the face of it, there can be no more con-trasting personalities than Sonia Gandhi andMamata Banerjee, although both are formidable

politicians and autocratic in their own ways.The rst, an inaccessible family bahu, upholderof the divine right to rule, the second a re-

brand, vagabond (her own words) , a redoubt-able grassroots leader, born without any spoonslet alone silver ones.

Sonia Gandhi never gives interviews, nevercommunicates. Instead she remains cocoonedin the corridors of 10 Jan Path, journeying out

to address vast gatherings of the people inReal India. Mamata Banerjee constantly talksto the media (sometimes to her own disadvan-tage), constantly interacts with people of allhues and answers all her own smses from thou-sands of people every day. For Sonia Gandhi,the candidate for Rashtrapati Bhavan must besomeone to be rewarded for loyalty like Prati-

bha Patil. For Mulayam and Mamata the Presi-dent is about showing off their political strengthand maximising political opportunity.

For Mulayam and Mamata this is not a race forRaisina Hill, it is for the ultimate political prize.Forcing a change in government and forcing


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The M&M Factor


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Check-mate: Mamata-Mulayam

axis has outplayed SoniaMamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav

have exposed the limits of Sonia Gandhis

political sagacity.

Venky Vembu, Jun 14, 2012

Sometimes a switched-off cellphone can bemore eloquent than the most garrulousmotormouth exertions of party spokes-

persons. On that count, the deafening silenceon Wednesday evening of highly voluble Con-gress leaders, who are never shy of appearing ontelevision talk shows and ponticating on everysubject under the sun, speaks volumes aboutthe acute dilemma of the party after the bomb-shell dropped earlier in the evening by MamataBanerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The bombshell came, rst, in the form of therejection of the two candidates for Presidency

Pranab Mukherjee and Hamid Ansari that(Mamata Banerjee says) Sonia Gandhi pro-posed at a one-on-one meeting at 10, Janpathearlier in the afternoon. To add insult to injury,Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav,appearing together at a joint press conference,suggested the name of Prime Minister Manmo-han Singh as one of their three candidates forthe Presidency (along with APJ Abdul Kalamand Somnath Chatterjee).

In other words, at one fell stroke, Mamata Ban-erjee and Mulayam Singh, leaders of two key al-lies of the Congress, were teaming up to subject


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the three top leaders of the Congress Manmo-han Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and Sonia Gandhi to the most embarrassing ritual humiliationin public by vetoing the Congress nominees forPresident, and expressing a manifest lack ofcondence in the Prime Minister.

And, yet, there was no ofcial response fromCongress leaders. What can conceivably accountfor this thunderous sound of silence?

One possible explanation is that even seniorCongress leaders were entirely clueless abouthow to read the move by Mamata and Mulayam.

Was it, as conspiracy theories doing the roundshad it, an astute ploy by Sonia Gandhi to use thetwo allies to ease out the discredited ManmohanSingh from the Prime Ministers chair and

simultaneously sabotage the presidential candi-dacy of Pranab Mukherjee, given that he doesntenjoy her condence?

The theory which a Firstpost analysis e-shed out late on Wednesday (here) certainlysounds plausible. After all, there have beenseveral accounts of how both Sonia Gandhi andRahul Gandhi were believed to have calculatedthat Manmohan Singh had become a political

liability and wanted him replaced (here). RahulGandhis aides had even been planting stories inthe media suggesting that the yuvraj was dis-gusted with Team Manmohan and had beenventing his dismay almost daily at the mess be-ing created by the Manmohan Singh Ministry(here).

Given that perception, any Congress leader whocame out publicly defending the Prime Minister

in response to the open challenge to his author-ity by Mamata and Mulayam would have beenat risk of incurring Sonia Gandhis displeasurefor interfering with her master strategy.

In a situation like that, its easy to understandwhy Congress leaders had switched off theircellphones and had modelled themselves onreclusive Trappist monks.

But its rather more likely that the Congress in

its entirety from Sonia Gandhi downwards had been shellshocked by the Mamata-Mulayam

joint gambit, which has comprehensively out-played the Congress strategy, and particularly

Sonia Gandhis moves to secure a life insurancefor the UPA government by playing Mulayamand Mamata.

After all, only recently, at the third anniversaryof the UPA-2 government, Mulayam Singh had

been feted and pampered as a chief guest, eveninvited to the dais and given a seat at the hightable along with Sonia Gandhi at dinner time.Sonia Gandhi had been extremely solicitous atdinner time, and Mulayam Singh even condedthat evening that he had been offered muchsamman (respect). Congress leaders crowedthat evening that now that they had MulayamSingh on their side, they really didnt need acantankerous ally like Mamata Banerjee (here).

Even the Congress choice of its two candidates

Pranab Mukherjee and Hamid Ansari wasa cynical attempt to play Mamata against Mu-layam. Mamata had been dead-set againstMukherjees candidacy, since she didnt con-sider him enough of a son of Bengal; andMulayam Singh had publicly voiced his discom-ture with seeing naukarshah (bureaucrats)like Ansari as President.

All the President's menVice-President Hamid Ansari is suddenly for-

gotten. Reuters.4 / 4 view all

view more galleries

That divide-and-rule strategy has spectacularlybackred on the Congress. The coming togetherof Mamata and Mulayam represents the whole-sale fallibility of the Congress which realisa-tion hasnt yet dawned on its leaders and thefact that it is no longer the centre, but disparate

regional allies who constitute the real power inthe alliance.

For sure, the Mamata-Mulayam gambit mayhave an element of bluff built into it. But by farthe clearest message that the two leaders sentthe Congress is that the Congress needs themfor its political survival rather more than it is

willing to acknowledge, and must be preparedto pay the right price for their support.

If not, they wont shrink from humiliating atone shot the Prime Minister, the FinanceMinister and the Congress president with theirveto.


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Mamatas brinkmanship games with the Con-gress have a history, but how does one accountfor Mulayam Singhs treachery? It appearsthat he still believes he hasnt been compen-sated for bailing out the UPA-1 government in2008 (at the time of the Indo-US nuclear deal).The price he sought then a watering down anddismissal of the corruption cases against him hasnt yet been paid. With his son, AkhileshKumar, as Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh,and with the cases coming up soon, this is lastchance to force the Congress hand.

The cynical machinations of politics may en-sure that the Congress may yet pay that price tosecure its survival. After all, this isnt the rsttime anti-corruption investigating agencies have

been used as handmaidens of the ruling party.

But such a capitulation, taken together with thedramatic developments on Wednesday, showup Sonia Gandhi not as a master strategist butas politically inept. This time around, she has

been comprehensively outplayed by Mulayamand Mamata. She is clearly no Chanakya inpolitics or a Machiavelli in strategy. And the

worst of it is that, the notion that the Mamata-Mulayam gambit was a Sonia Gandhi-inspired

conspiracy to ease out Manmohan Singh andPranab Mukherjee enjoys enormous traction,even within the Congress.

Where does this leave Manmohan Singh?

If the conspiracy theories are true, he does notenjoy the condence of Sonia Gandhi, and hisposition as Prime Minister has become unten-able.

But even if they arent, and Mamata and Mu-layam were only acting in their own interest, itrepresents the emasculation of his authority tosuch an extent that a cynical game of ducks anddrakes is being played with his head on the line.

And, worse, in that moment of abject humilia-tion by his allies, his own party has been miss-

ing in action and has not uttered the faintestsqueak of solidarity.

Either way, Manmohan Singh today is a vastlyshrunken man. If he wishes to salvage even anounce of his personal honour, he should resignand walk away and leave the Congress to stewin its own juices.


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to play surprise games if the Trinamool and theSP are behind it.Is there a move to keep Pranab Mukherjee outof contention? Quite possible, if one were tomanufacture an instant conspiracy theory. Thisis not because he is too useful for the party to bespared, but because he is looked with distrust

by Sonias coterie. He has not been made primeminister for this specic reason despite hisproven abilities and brilliant political acumen.But would a party with 206 MPs allow its all-powerful president to be humiliated by an ally

with just 19 Lok Sabha members at her com-mand? The Congress cannot simply afford todenigrate the dignity it ascribes to the Gandhifamily in the partys hierarchy. Moreover, it can

just ask Pranab to focus on his job and forgetabout being President. It does not need Mamataand Mulayam to do the job, simply because itshows the partys leadership in a poor light.The case of Manmohan Singh being propped upis curious indeed. Never before in Indian his-tory has a sitting prime minister been proposedfor presidentship. It means the party has losttrust in the prime minister and it wants to kick

him upstairs so that it can nd a replacementfor him before the 2014 general elections.

It is true that ministers and senior party mem-bers have little faith in Manmohan Singhsleadership abilities and they consider him a bigliability but to remove him this way would meanacceptance of guilt. Moreover, unlike PranabManmohan does not enjoy cross-party support.It would be difcult for the party to summonsupport for him even from other allies and non-UPA, non-NDA parties.The UPA government needs a change in leader-ship alright. If rumours are to be believed partygeneral secretary Rahul Gandhi is a possiblereplacement for Singh. But is it the right timeto put him in the prime ministers chair? Thecountry is passing through a terrible phase atthis point. The country needs an astute leader

with great skills at governance and managing

troublesome allies. Rahul has proved short onthe rst one and on the second, he has not beentested yet. The party would not like to put himin a lose-lose situation before the elections.

All these considerations make one conclude thattheres little possibility of a denite design inthe Mamata-Mulayam show of strength. To-days developments are just posturing with littleconsequence.


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PM for prez? Revolt against Sonia,or ploy for mid-term poll?

Can Mamata and Mulayam suggest Manmohan Singhfor president without Sonias nod? Or is this a revolt

by the duo to show Congress its place?

R Jagannathan, Jun 13, 2012

S

o Sonia Gandhi thinks either PranabMukherjee or Hamid Ansari should bepresident and Mukherjee is her rst

choice. She hasnt said so. But we have to be-lieve it, since Mamata Banerjee and MulayamSingh Yadav said so on Wednesday.

But heres the googly Mulayam and Mamatathrew at waiting mediapersons after theirsecond meeting in as many days: they wantthe next president to come from among thesethreeSomnath Chatterjee, former Lok SabhaSpeaker, APJ Abdul Kalam, former President,

andsurprise, surprisePrime Minister Man-mohan Singh.

Whats going on? Are Mulayam and Mamatacocking a snook at Sonia Gandhi and the UPA?

If yes, what are their calculations? If no, what isthe purpose of bunging a cat among the pigeons

by tossing up Manmohan Singhs name for

president?

There are clearly plots and sub-plots in thisscript. Lets try them out one by one to see

which one offers the best possible explanation.

Plot one: Is Mamata trying to tell the Congressshe can team up with Mulayam to show them

whos boss? After all, the Congress producedMulayam Singh at UPA-2s third anniversary

bash presumably to show Mamata her place.So Mamata may be paying the Congress backin the same coin by showing that she too canteam up with Mulayam to play her own power-games.


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However, this theory has some problems. A fewweeks back, when Pranab was the frontrunner,Mamata specically said that he would not beher choice. She mentioned Meira Kumar then.So proposing Somnath and APJ Abdul Ka-lam is one of a piece with this stand of spikingMukherjees candidature.

However, the introduction of ManmohanSinghs name is interesting: nobody would sug-gest his name without Sonia Gandhis permis-sion because only she can decide on the PM and

where he goes. It has been this way all alongsince 2004. it is highly unlikely that Mamataand Mulayam would suggest his name withouther wink and a nod.

Moreover, why would she suggest Somnath

Chatterjees name? After all, he was a CPMmember who fell out with the party after thenuclear deal condence vote in 2008. Was hisname just thrown in to spite the Left? It is prob-ably safe to conclude that his name was justa red herring to exclude the Left from Soniasconsultations. At best, Somnath could emergeas a vice-presidential nominee.

Plot Two: Whats in it for Mulayam Singh?

Mulayams rst choice was always Abdul Kalam,and he was never hot on Hamid Ansari. He maynot have had any problem with Pranab Mukher-

jee, but his rst preference would always havebeen for a minority candidate.

So why did he too agree to go with ManmohanSinghs name for president? Especially if theidea came from Mamata and not the Congresshigh command?

A smart player, Mulayam has been warming upto the Congress for some time now. It is highlyunlikely he would have thrown up Manmohansname without some kind of indication that it isall right.

Plot Three: What is Sonias gameplan on this?We know she was never heavily sold on PranabMukherjee, despite his apparent keenness forthe presidents job. She would have been happy

with Ansari, but that is not to be. She is certain-ly against Kalam and may not be too keen onSomnath as president when the chips are down.She cant afford a Rashtrapati Bhawan occupant

who may be a stickler for norms in case sheneeds special favours after the next Lok Sabhapoll.

On the other hand, UPA-2s reputation is in tat-ters. And Manmohan Singhs too. With Man-mohan at the helm, UPA-2 will never be able toshake off the perception of policy paralysis sinceshe anyway cannot allow him to run too far withreformist ideas in the run-up to the next elec-tion.

So why would she not want to kick Manmohanupstairs? Not only has he been loyal, but he

would be acceptable to many allies and a perfectt for the presidency.

A change of PM at this stage would present

Sonia with two opportunities: put in an interimPM in case she wants to look at a mid-term polllater this year; or even install Rahul Gandhi, incase she wants to hold on for two more yearstill 2014. In the interim, Rahul can be shownas a decisive PM and claim some credit for anyimprovement in the economys fortunes.

There is also a third factor that may be at work:the possibility of Narendra Modi becoming

the BJPs prime ministerial candidate after theGujarat elections assuming he wins big. Thereare some Congress strategists who believe thata Modi versus Rahul contest in 2014 would begood for the Congress, since minority votes

would get polarised.

But Modi being Modi, one can be certain that ifhe wins Gujarat, he will start changing his anti-minority image. His problem is that he cant

change his image before the Gujarat elections.

Connecting the Dots: Where do all theseparallel lines meet? How do the gameplans ofMamata, Mulayam and Sonia Gandhi converge?Can they converge at all?

Here is now they could connect.

Lets assume Sonia is not keen on Pranab aspresident. She cant tell him no after all he has

done for the party. However, she can tell himsorry, Mamata and Mulayam wont agree to it.By allowing Mamata to proclaim that Soniasrst choice was Pranab, she could both be seen


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to have done her duty to the FM while denyinghim what he wants: the presidency.

Now, lets assume she wants Manmohan out ofthe PMs ofce. She can always do this by di-rectly talking to him. But when the PM has been

busy trying to get Pranab out of the nanceministry, it is on the assumption that he will geta freer hand with the economy. But the PM iskeen on retaining his reformist image, while So-nia Gandhi is keen on her aam aadmi messiahimage. The two images will clash.

By getting Mamata and Mulayam to proclaimManmohans candidature for the presidency,she can quietly tell him that since there is strongsupport for him, can he consider taking up that

job? Manmohan, in these circumstances, wont

say no. In any case, he has always said that he isready to go when Sonia asks him.

Now, lets see where Mulayam Singh andMamatas plots converge. Both of them areCongress allies, and would be keen on an earlygeneral election in order to increase their LokSabha seats.

But would Sonia Gandhi be averse to a mid-

term poll? If we assume that she would notwant Modi to be pitted against Rahul in 2014,she might prefer bringing forward the electionto later this year so that Modi is tied downcompletely in Gujarat. Modi might nd it im-possible to campaign as Gujarat ka sher andBharat ka dynamic leader at the same time. Thetwo roles are not coterminus.

But what would Sonia gain from an early elec-

tion, when Congress fortunes are on the de-cline? The Congress is widely expected to losein Rajasthan and Andhra, but could make somegains in MP and UP.

Assuming the party ties up with Mulayam inUP, the combine would make a clean sweepagainst Mayawati and BJP since even if thelatter two team up (an unlikely event). LaluPrasad and Congress would also make somegains in Bihar, while Trinamool would sweep

Bengal. In Andhra, a quick announcement onTelangana while Jaganmohan Reddy is busyghting his CBI cases would give Sonia someseats, but still an overall loss. But there could be

gains in Karnataka and very marginal losses inKerala and Maharashtra.

A mid-term poll may make sense for the follow-ing reasons: Modi would be tied up in Gujarat,Mulayam Singh would give her more seats inUP, and her losses in other states would bemore or less made up in UP, Madhya Pradeshand Karnataka. After the Gujarat election, theBJP may look more like a ghting force than

before Gujarat.

Mulayam Singh and Mamata would like thisscenario, since they are keen on early polls toincrease their overall tally.

The other scenariothat Congress does notwant a mid-term pollalso suggests that

Mamata and Mulayam are batting for Soniain proposing Manmohan Singhs name. This

would give Rahul Gandhi a shot at the PMs jobwhere he can make quick changes and look likea dynamo. If the economy turns around afterall the recent pessimism, and world oil priceslend a helping hand by bringing down ination,Rahul will be seen as a decisive and performingleader. In any case, Manmohan Singh looks likea dead duck and needs replacement.

So this is how the cards stack up: Manmo-han for president, Pranab sent to retirement,and early elections that suit all three Sonia,Mamata and Mulayam.

If Sonia wants Rahul installed, the only gainsfor Mulayam and Mamata would be greater in-dulgence and handouts to their states. But they

would prefer a mid-term poll.

Another possibility is for Rahul to take overbefore a late-2012 mid-term poll. A few monthsis not a long-enough time for Rahul to goof upin government. Yet it would be enough to showsome action and determination.

The only other explanation is that Mamata andMulayam are going to push Sonia for a mid-term poll anyway so that they can call the shotsand decide the next PM, in case the Congress

does badly.

Do the dots connect?


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What was she thinking?Behind Mamatas master stroke

Why did Mamata take the risk of scuttling the rst

Bengali president and take the unprecedented step of

nominating a sitting PM? And what did Sonia tell her?

Sandip Roy & Lakshmi Chaudhry, Jun 14, 2012

B

engali media are running out of wordsto describe Mamatas presidential ploy.

A Hollywood thriller, says one televisionchannel. Mistress of surprise The Telegraphdubs her. The consensus seems to be its a mas-ter stroke. Mamata likes to do what has never

been done before, marvelsAkash Bangla.

Why did she take the risk of scuttling the rstreal prospect of a Bengali president? Take theunprecedented step of nominating a sittingPrime Minister for President? What was shethinking?

The Manmohan googly

Manmohan Singh-ji, as Mamata called him, is

a poison pill disguised as a compliment. MMSmaybe a non-starter for the Congress, the UPA

cannot exactly dismiss their own PM as unt tobe president.

And while some claim M&M are playing theirpart in an elaborate Sonia plan to kick MMSupstairs, Mamata rubbished that theory, saying:Will you give no credit to us? Does all creditalways go to the Congress? Mulayam Singhjiand I decided on Manmohan Singhs name byourselves.

A Trinamool source told ABP that Mamata actu-ally gave those names to Sonia. Mrs Gandhisreaction was she could not support Kalam sincehe had been the NDA nominated president. On


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MMS, she simply asked Will he agree?

Manmohan Singh deserves to rest in Rashtra-pati Bhavan given the way the government isrunning, said a Trinamool leader at Mulayamsresidence to The Telegraph. Didi khela koredilo.(Didi made her play)

Some papers are calling this a ringing endorse-ment of the S&P assessment of the PM, even asTMC sources remained steadfastly diplomatic.SP leaders like Azam Singh, however, were farless charitable:

All the problems of Congress party will beresolved if Manmohan Singh is made the Presi-dent. This will clear the way for Rahul Gandhito become the Prime Minister. For the Presi-

dents post, we need a person who remainssilent, doesnt apply his mind and passes abill without much difculty. Such qualities are

found in the current Prime Minister.

The Mir Jafar factor

While all the chatter in Delhi is about MMS, thename thats thrown Bengals political establish-ment for a loop is former Lok Sabha speaker

Somnath Chatterjee. A man with whom Mamatashares a long and stormy history.

Chatterjee was the giant felled by Mamata inher rst Lok Sabha election in 1984, the Londonreturned lawyer defeated by the true subaltern.After that loss Somnath Chatterjee would notutter her name for a long time, said DebajyotiGhosh, political reporter withABP Ananda.

When he was Lok Sabha speaker, Mamata

stormed into the well of the House, tearing upher papers, because he would not let her speak.His nomination shows that nothing is impos-sible in politics, says Ghosh.

After nixing Pranab Mukherjees chance to bethe rst Bengali president of India, Mamataneeded to show that she still cares about Ben-gali pride. Does Mamata want to go down theroad of becoming a Mir Jafar to a large sectionof West Bengal? wonders Bartaman newspa-

per.

Mamata has made it clear after returningempty handed from meeting Pranab Mukher-

jee, time after time that she considers him nofriend of Bengal. In fact, Pranabs status as Ben-gal congressman might have been his undoing.Mamata is afraid that a Bengali congressman aspresident could increase the clout of the localparty whose wings she has severely clipped. Andgiven the Congress waning fortunes, she doesnot want a hardcore loyalist in Rashtrapati Bha-

van in 2014 to advance his partys interests.

And hes exactly the kind of erudite Bengalibabu that Mamata has had to ght against allher life. Was Mamata waiting for just such anopportunity to exact her revenge on PranabMukherjee, wondersAkash Bangla. Pranab-daalso angered Mamata because he never spoketo her and sought her support. He was reportedto have said he could make it to Rashtrapati

Bhavan without Mamatas support a TMC in-sider told Telegraph.

Somnath is Bengali but is also in near politicalexile. He was holidaying in London and says heknew nothing about his name being proposed.I feel good, I am grateful, he told ABP Anan-da. But I have no idea if it will be contested ornot. Asked if it was a masterstroke to nominatethe man she defeated in her rst election, he

said: I am a retired politician now. What do Iknow about masterstrokes?

But newschannels are already asking: Did Didiadvance the name of one Dada to block anotherDada?

All politics is local

However it plays out on the national stage,

Chatterjee may indeed be the perfect choice inthe context of Bengal politics. His nominationputs the Left in a x, much to Mamatas endlesspleasure. She can pretend to have risen aboveparty politics by nominating an expelled CPMleader that his own party can hardly support.

But they also know that a section of the party,especially in West Bengal had soft feelingstowards Somnathbabu, reportsAnanda Bazar

Patrika. The CPM already got a black eye in

Bengal because it blocked Jyoti Basus ascentto the prime ministers post. Now that they arestruggling in West Bengal would they now wantto send out a message that they are blocking yet


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another Bengalis rise to the top? They cant beseen as supporting a BJP backed candidate to

block Somnath either.

Mamata is occupying the CPMs political spacenationally. She has taken their political stancenow she is taking their space as well, noted acommentator on Tara News. She has usurpedthe kingmaker role that belonged to CPM inUPA-I.

For all the talk of Mamatas madness, her lat-est play is carefully calibrated to cover all her

bases. Of her three choices a Muslim and aBengali to match Sonias picks, with the added

bonus of a Sikh Abdul Kalam may end upbeing her winning card. He is the candidate ofchoice for both the NDA and Mulayam. If he

does indeed win the presidential sweepstakes,Mamata may well emerge the biggest kingmakerof them all.

The M&M master stroke

After months of the UPA cozying up to Mu-layam Singh Yadav as a counterweight to theunreliable Mamata, Didi proved that she re-mains one step ahead in the game. These

two proved that sharik dals (partners) are notdisposable, said Chitrita Sanyal of24 Ghonta.

Ananda Bazar Patrika says both Mamata andMulayam want the vote to come forward be-cause they think they can increase their num-

bers. The tail has declared it wants to wagthe dog, writes Sankarshan Thakur in TheTelegraph. The dog must now respond to thatdare.

The other M&M goal: money, money, money.According toAsianAge, Mamata is disap-pointed with the terms of the nancial packageoffered by the Centre:

Apparently Ms Banerjee and Mr Yadav havejoined hands to pressure the Centre to bail outBengal and Uttar Pradesh . Uttar Pradeshchief minister Akhilesh Yadav has written 13letters to the PM so far to press for nancialaid for various schemes. The SP governmentin Uttar Pradesh cannot full poll promises if

funds are not made available for the state. We

have common cause with Ms Banerjee, said asenior Samajwadi Party leader.

Mamata, however dismissed all talk of a linkagebetween a package for Bengal and her presi-dential choice as rumour and gossip meant tohumiliate her.

For the time being, she is clearly keeping heroptions and ears wide open. In an interest-

ing departure, Mamata is staying on in Delhiinstead of following her usual MO of lobbingher grenades and heading back to Kolkata. Thegame is on, and she is very much in control.


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What next?


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Congress slam Mamata for

lack of decorum, discourtesyThe Congress party today ruled out removing Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh from his post and refused

to back the two other candidates suggested by Mamata

Banerjee and Mulayam Singh.

FP Staff, Jun 14, 2012

The Congress Party which remained large-ly silent following the massive bomb-shell dropped by Mamata Banerjee and

Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday evening,have broken their silence to slam Mamata Ban-erjee for her lack of decorum.

Main Congress spokesman Janardhan Dwivedhi

gave the rst indication of the partys displeas-ure with both Mamata and Mulayam, whenhe said said Congress could not spare PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh to be elevated toPresident of India and would not back the two

other candidates suggested by Mamata Banerjeeand Mulayam Singh.

At the time of the beginning of the UPA II wehad said that Manmohan Singh will remainPrime minister till 2014, he was our Prime Min-isterial candidate.The Congress Party cannottake such a major decision in the middle of his

term.We cannot afford to spare him as PrimeMinister Congress spokesperson JanardhanDwivedi told reporters.

Ruling out any possible support for the can-


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didature of APJ Abdul Kalam and SomnathChatterjee who had been suggested for the post,Dwivedi said, The two other names are not ac-ceptable to us.

In its rst ofcial statement after yesterdayspolitical developments, the Congress spokeper-son also accused Trinamool Congress MamataBanerjee of a lack of decorum in revealing thenames of Pranab Mukherjee and Hamid Ansarias potential candidates for President.

We normally discuss such matters with ourallies but it doesnt come out in public. Otherallies have also come spoken in public but havenot divulged any details of the discussions.There is a certain decorum to these discus-sions, Dwivedi said.

The Congress President had been carrying outdiscussions with allies and in the rst round ofdiscussions the names of Mukherjee and Ansa-ris names emerged as possible candidates anddidnt mean they were the partys nal candi-dates, he said.

If the Congress had decided then not twonames but one name would have emerged, he

said.

After meeting with UPA chairperson Sonia Gan-dhi, Banerjee had told reporters that the artyscandidates were Mukherjee and Ansari in thatorder of priority. She subsequently met with Ya-dav and they suggested three other alternatives.

Later in the day, Information and BroadcastingMinister Ambika Soni joined the attack, say-ing it was unprecedented to include the PrimeMinisters name in the list of candidates for thepost of President.

Never has there been a the Prime Minister inthe Presidential raceOne desists from suchlack of courtesy, Soni told reporters, addingthat the TMC had not even consulted with thePrime Minister.

The people of country would wonder why suchtactics are being adopted by political parties,she added.

Soni also hit out at Mamata for walking out ofan important meeting and immediately disclos-ing the nature of what was discussed. For asenior leader to walk from serious discussionsand disclose names to press doesnt make politi-cal or ethical sense, she said.


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BJP continues with thewaiting game on next President

The BJP general secretary, however, avoided a directresponse when asked if the party would support

Kalam for a second tenure at Raisina Hill.

FP Politics, Jun 13, 2012

A

fter the core committee meeting, theBJP today put the ball on Congresscourt asking it to respond rst on the

three names for President suggested by Sama-jwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav andWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Congress and the UPA should react rst onthe names of former Lok Sabha speaker Som-

nath Chatterjee, former president APJ AbdulKalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singhfor President, BJP general secretary Ananth

Kumar told media personnel in New Delhi.

The BJP general secretary, however, avoided a

direct response when asked if the party wouldsupport Kalam for a second tenure at RaisinaHill.

Let the Congress respond rst. After their re-sponse, we shall call a meeting of the NDA anddiscuss the issue before saying anything, hesaid.

The Congress has so far not responded on the

three new names as it was completely caughtoff guard by the stance of ally Mamata Banerjeeand all-weather friend Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The announcement gave an unexpected turnto the presidential race as the duo the Con-gress choice for either Finance Minister PranabMukherjee or Vice President Hamid Ansari forthe countrys highest constitutional post.

The new names is likely to give a hard time forthe Congress as it was banking on SamajwadiParty to counter Trinamool.


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Prez poll: Left yet to decide,calls TMC-SP move political

CPI-M politburo member Biman Bose said the names

proposed by the Trinamool Congress and the Sama-

jwadi Party for the presidential elections are based on

political calculations.

FP Politics, Jun 13, 2012

K

olkata: The Left parties would take adecision on the presidential candidateafter the national picture becomes

clearer, West Bengal Left Front chief BimanBose said here Thursday.

Terming the names proposed by the TrinamoolCongress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) for thepresidential elections being based on politi-

cal calculations, Bose said: The Left parties inNew Delhi have not decided on this issue. Theyare ready to sit for discussions. After discussingthe issue, they will announce their decision.

Let the national picture become more clear,

said Bose, who is also a politburo member of theCommunist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

Asked to comment on the name of Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh proposed by Trinamooland SP for presidency, he said: I will not com-ment on the names proposed by them. But I cansay that these names are proposed according topolitical calculations and culture of the respec-tive political parties.

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee and SPs Mu-layam Singh Yadav stunned the political world

Wednesday when they put forward their listof choices for the president Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, former president APJ AbdulKalam and former speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

Banerjee, who reached New Delhi Tuesdaynight at the invitation of Congress chief SoniaGandhi, was the one who made the announce-ment that Finance Minister Pranab Mukher-

jee was the rst choice of the Congress for the

presidents post followed by Vice PresidentHamid Ansari.

Immediately after meeting Gandhi, she visitedMulayam Singh. The two later addressed a jointpress conference and sprang the surprise.


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Prez poll: Advani, Jaya tocoordinate on strategy

CPI-M politburo member Biman Bose said the namesproposed by the Trinamool Congress and the Sama-

jwadi Party for the presidential elections are based on

political calculations.

PTI, Jun 14, 2012

Chennai: NDA Working Chairperson LK

Advani today met Tamil Nadu Chief

Minister J Jayalalithaa here today to dis-cuss fresh developments in the run-up to Presi-dential election and they agreed to coordinate

with each other on their strategy.

We discussed the presidential election atlength. What are the prospects and possibili-ties. The NDA is meeting (in Delhi) tomorrow todiscuss the situation as it is till now, he said.

He indicated that the NDA may decide tomor-row to wait till the UPA declares its presidentialcandidate and then announce its strategy.

I mentioned this to Jayalalithaa. We said itwould be proper if we keep in touch with eachother and coordinate our approach to this presi-

dential election, Advani told reporters hereafter his meeting with the chief minister.

The BJP leader said that Jayalalithaa hadphoned him a few days back to convey to him

that she and Odisha Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik have decided to support NCP leader PASangma.

Mr Sangma also met me two days back. Allthese issues we discussed (today), Advani said,

without clarifying if the NDA would supportSangma.

We will continue to be in touch with each other

and coordinate our efforts, Advani said.

Asked about names that were discussed as pos-sible candidates during his meeting with Jay-alalithaa, Advani said, All names gured. WhatI have said doesnt need any elaboration. Herposition is that we will coordinate with all par-ties. The decision on who will be president will

be taken properly.

Advani also hit out at the UPA government forthe present situation.

I have never seen any earlier government han-dling an important election like the presidentialelection so clumsily and in such a manner thatits situation gets worse day-by-day.

But, so far as we are concerned, we are con-scious that the Congress and the UPA have not

been able to create a consensus on a presiden-

tial candidate even within its own camp, hesaid.


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Thanks to Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singhsdecision to suggest new candidates for the post of

president, there are now a range of possibilities on

who could be the next President. Here are a few.

G Pramod Kumar, Jun 14, 2012

Mamata, Mulayam open the doorfor a wildcard President

The unusual spectacle of Mulayam Singh

Yadav and Mamata Banerjee comingtogether to reject the Congress presiden-tial probables by elding its own set of candi-dates has split prime time national debates on

Wednesday night in multiple ways.

At one extreme end of the possibilities wasthe combo of a wily Mulayam and a mercurialMamata plotting against the Congress, while atthe other end, it was Sonia Gandhi joining thetwo to hatch a conspiracy to get rid of Manmo-han Singh.

Between the two extremes was a rainbow ofconjectures and theories that made the upcom-

ing election for the Presidents ofce look as

political and intriguing as the general elections.

The churning of these possibilities threw up yetanother possibility that none of the ve names- Pranab Kumar Mukherjee and Hamid Ansari,proposed by the Congress; and APJ Abdul Ka-lam, Manmohan Singh and Somnath Chatterjee,proposed by Mulayam and Mamata mightmake to the nishing line and there could be a

wild card entry winning the race.

Here are a few chosen possibilities.

Possibility no.1


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A scheming Mulayam getting a disruptiveMamata on his side to create a minor alliance

within the UPA with an aim of getting others onits side, not just from the UPA but also from theNDA and the Left front. The Lefties cant standMamata, but they might be okay with Mulayamand the duos hidden agenda.

Their motive is to destabilise the Congressand force an early election to shore up theirnumbers in the parliament. The dissent onthe presidential candidate is an expression oftheir intent. Incidentally, Mamata doesnt wantPranab as the President, and Mulayam doesnt

want Ansari.

Each of the choices that they have proposed isaimed at each of the constituents of the UPA,

the NDA and the Left: Kalam for the NDA,Manmohan for the Congress/UPA and Somnathfor the Left. They also represent a Muslim and aBengali, in case people of West Bengal feel thatMamata has let them down by not supportingPranab.

Each candidate is also acceptable to at leastsome sections of each of the alliances, whichthrows up the possibility of one of their names

becoming a consensus choice for all. Kalam, forinstance, appeared to be acceptable to the entireNDA and the largest number of parties includ-ing from the UPA.

The electoral college arithmetic is still not com-pletely in his favour though.

Possibility No. 2

Mulayam and Mamata want to make a state-ment on Manmohan Singh and the Congress.By asking for the elevation of Manmohan to thePresidents ofce, they are outrightly rejectinghim as the Prime Minister and willfully embar-rassing the Congress. It cannot get straighterthan this.

Possibility No. 3

Sonia Gandhi and her acolytes are fed up ofManmohan Singh as the Prime Minister and

want him out. The post of the President is arespectable exit plan. Manmohan has not beenpolitical anyway and hence he should not com-plain. To execute their plan, they get into aconspiracy with Mamata and Mulayam.

But this is a weak theory for two reasons oneMulayam is too wily and Mamata unreliablyemotional. She might blurt one day messing upeverything and Sonia therefore couldnt havetaken her into condence.

This theory also has other holes. If Manmohanis elevated, who will replace him? Rahul Gan-

dhi is still not ready. And Pranab? Had he beenacceptable to Sonia, he could have become thePrime Minister long ago.

Possibility no. 4

The wild card.

Nobody agrees on the ve names and in comesMeira Kumar, the wild card. She walks away

with Presidentship and the country is happy tohave a President from a scheduled caste for thesecond time.

Although opinion was divided on these pos-sibilities, there was overwhelming consensusthat the scene is really bad for the Congress.Their foundation is tottering and if Mulayamand Mamata have their way, there will be earlyparliamentary elections.

That will be bad news for the Congress. It willalso be bad news for the BJP. The regional sat-raps; not only Mulayam and Mamata, but Jaya,Nitish and others as well; cannot get happierthan this.


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FirstpostEbook eBook 15June2012 Presidentialpoll

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