M A I N   N E W S

Pranab set for smooth ride to Raisina Hill
Likely to quit as FM on June 26
Anita Katyal/TNS

New Delhi, June 22
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to resign from his post on June 26 as he gets ready to move to Rashtrapati Bhavan. He will file his nomination papers for the presidential election on June 28.

Mukherjee would have stepped down soon after the UPA announced his candidature last week, but had to hold back his resignation as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was out of the country. However, he has not been attending to any government business and even deferred a crucial meeting of the EGoM on allocation of Spectrum on Thursday.

Mukherjee is set to win the July 19 election comfortably after widespread support he has received across party lines. While the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, which are extending outside support to the UPA, were the first to declare that they would back Mukherjee, NDA allies Shiv Sena and Janata Dal (U) did not agree with the BJP’s decision to force a contest and instead decided to vote for Mukherjee. The President-designate especially rang up JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today to thank him for supporting his candidature.

Even as Opposition parties are favouring Mukherjee, key UPA ally and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has maintained a studied silence on this issue after former President APJ Abdul Kalam rejected her offer to contest the presidential election.

Mukherjee was in Kolkata this evening on his way to his village but it was unclear whether he would seek Mamata’s support though he had last week described her as his “sister”. Mamata is under pressure from her MPs and legislators to vote for Mukherjee as they do not want to be seen to be rejecting the candidature of India’s first Bengali President.

Earlier, Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy also reached Delhi to sign Pranab’s nomination papers.

While not naming the Trinamool Congress, the Congress today sought the widest possible support for Mukherjee and hoped that the parties which were not backing him would revisit their decision. Party spokesperson Manish Tewari asked parties to reconsider their decision in view of his long years in public life. Tewari also rejected the Opposition’s presidential candidate PA Sangma’s proposal for a debate with Mukherjee on the grounds that he was responsible for the economic crisis facing the country, saying the President of the country does not manage the nation’s economy.