Pranab, Sangma in a straight fight

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Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi with UPA candidate Pranab Mukh-erjee in New Delhi on Thursday-Pritam Bandyopadhaya

The presidential election on July 19 will see a straight contest between Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Mr P.A. Sangma, who filed their nomination papers for the highest office here on Thursday.

The election has created a rift within the NDA and Left, and differences have also surfaced within UPA ally NCP with Mr Sangma quitting the outfit to stay in the race. However, even though the JD(U), an NDA ally, extended support to UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav made it clear this would have no impact on the NDA. The BJP supports Mr Sangma. Sensing that some of its leaders might vote for Mr Mukherjee, the BJP core group met Thursday evening to chalk out strategy to ensure that all party MLAs and MPs vote for Mr Sangma.
It may be recalled that going against the party’s official stand of supporting Mr Sangma, some senior BJP leaders, including MPs Maneka Gandhi and Shatrughan Sinha, Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Bihar unit chief C.P. Thakur and a few others had praised Mr Mukherjee after he was declared the UPA candidate.
Mr Mukherjee is backed by the Congress-led UPA — comprising the DMK, NCP, RLD, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (P), Muslim League Kerala State Committee, AIMIM, AIUDFBDF, Kerala Congress (M), NPF and VCK. Besides, the SP, BSP, CPI(M), Shiv Sena, RJD, Forward Bloc, Janata Dal (S), and LJP have also backed him. He has the support of 20 political parties. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress, TDP, the TRS, the YSR Congress Party and the INLD are yet to take a call. Mr Sangma is supported by the BJP, BJD, AIADMK and Shiromani Akali Dal.