Her support to Pranab Mukherjee was not entirely unexpected. Forget all that drama preceding the decision.

She sought to bargain hard with the UPA for financial concessions for her state. Her tactic was to throw a scare in the Congress-led formation’s camp, first by pitching hard for former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and then by toying with the idea of backing the NDA’s candidate P.A. Sangma. But the Congress proved smarter.

She realises it is politically disastrous to be in inimical terms with the Centre at this point. The NDA is still not a stable alternative and supporting a candidate propped up by parties such as the BJD and the AIADMK did not make much sense.

What would have weighed on her mind most is the political impact of her decision not to support Pranab in her state. He is the first potential president from the state and this fact carries a lot of sentimental heft among people.

Had she not backed him, there were chances that members of her own party, Trinamul Congress, would not have backed her decision to oppose Pranab with enthusiasm.

The relations between Pranab and many of them go back a long way. The rapport is more at the personal level than at the political level. In a secret ballot, it was possible that some of them would have gone against the party diktat to vote for him. This would have left Mamata in an embarrassing position.

Now the big question: does she have enough scope to leverage her strength with numbers to arm-twist the UPA any more?

It is interesting that she would think of coalition dharma now. Her call to everybody to bury the hatchet is also curious. Clearly, she wants to mend fences with the Congress.

Pranab to win by over 7 lakh votes?

Pranab Mukherjee will win the presidential election by over 7.5 lakh votes, predicted the Congress shortly after Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee announced her party’s support to Mr Mukherjee.

The ruling UPA finally remained 'united' after the Trinamul Congress announced to vote for Mr Mukherjee.

Parliamentary affairs minister P.K. Bansal, who is the authorised representative of Mr Mukherjee, on Tuesday expressed confidence that Mr Mukherjee will get over 7.5 lakh votes.

Besides the 15 parties the UPA, parties like the Samajwadi Party, BSP, Janata Dal (U), CPI(M), Shiv Sena, RJD, Janata Dal (S), Forward Bloc and the LJP have announced their support for Mr Mukherjee.
According to Congress managers, the BJP-BJD-AIADMK-SAD backed candidate P.A. Sangma could get over three lakh votes.

They also said Dr Hamid Ansari, who is contesting the vice-president’s election for the second time, will get around 500 of the total 790 votes. The vice-president’s election will be held on August 7.
With the support of the SP (66,688 vote value), BSP (45,473), JD-U (40,737), Shiv Sena (18,495), JD-S (6,138) and CPI-M and Forward Bloc (around 41,000), Mr Mukherjee can expect vote share of about seven lakh.

The number game was not in Mr Sangma’s favour as the NDA strength has been reduced to 2.43 lakh after the JD(U) and Shiv Sena extended support to his rival. However, with AIADMK (36,920 vote value) and BJD (30,125) backing, his votes will rise to 3.10 lakh.

The electoral college for the July 19 poll comprises 4,896 members — 776 MPs and 4,120 MLAs — who have a vote value of 10.98 lakh. If all the votes are polled, a candidate who gets more than 5,49,442 votes will be declared winner.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi on Tuesday welcomed the Trinamul Congress’ decision hoping that it will back Dr Ansari in the vice-president’s election.

“We welcome the support declared by Mamata Banerjee to Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature. We thank her for her Trinamul Congress’ support in the presidential poll. The Congress has always maintained that Mamata is a valuable ally. We hope and trust that the UPA will continue to get her support and cooperation in future also, including for the vice-presidential election.”

AICC’s in-charge for West Bengal Shakeel Ahmed said: “We were saying from the beginning that she will support us in the presidential poll. This is a good development.”