Mamata :Mr. Mukherjee is not its candidate :Prez poll

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi. Both the leaders are believed to have discussed the coming Presidential election. Speaking to reporters later, Mamta Banerjee declined to divulge the details of their discussion.

Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav refused to express his opinion on probable candidates for the forthcoming election to the country's highest office. Yadav, hoever, said President should always be a political person.

CPI(M) today asked the Congress to take the initiative in building a consensus on the candidate for the Presidential election . Party MP and politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the Left parties will discuss the Presidential Election issue at their meeting tomorrow.


Congress president Sonia Gandhi held discussions on the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament House this morning in which Mr. Mukherjee also joined.Asked about “confusion” over names of Presidential candidates, Ms. Gandhi told reporters, “There is no confusion. Be patient, still there is time.”
 Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury  suggest that Mr. Mukherjee was too “valued” to the party and the government to be spared for the President’s post.This encouraged a  prompt from Ms. Banerjee to remark that Congress has announced that Mr. Mukherjee is not its candidate.
However, the Congress clarified that no name has been finalised and Mr. Mukherjee is not ruled out of the race though he is important for the party, government and the country.
Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, whom Ms. Banerjee met, broke his silence saying the Presidential candidate should be “political”.
 Left parties, who were the key players in Mr. Ansari becoming the Vice President in 2007, again indicated that they were averse to either him or Mr. Mukherjee.
To a question on the Left’s stand on probable candidates like Mr. Ansari and Mr. Mukherjee, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said if the Congress narrowed down its choice to these two names, then the Left would like to see on whose name there is consensus.
“That is the best approach. As far as Ansari is concerned, the Left had proposed his name for Vice Presidentship last time. As far as Mukherjee is concerned, the name was doing rounds last time also and we said we have no objection,” he said.