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Mamata OKs Pranab for President: 10 big facts

New Delhi:

The date for the elections for the next President of India will be announced today by the Election Commission.

Here are 10 big new developments on this story

  1. UPA expected to announce its candidate for President of India by Friday, June 15.

  2. UPA chair Sonia Gandhi has invited key ally Mamata Banerjee to Delhi for talks tomorrow.

  3. The frontrunner among the UPA is Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who has cancelled a scheduled trip to Afghanistan. His office says his focus on the economy has kept Mr Mukherjee in Delhi.

  4. Ms Banerjee has reportedly conveyed to the Congress that she will not oppose Mr Mukherjee because she will "be happy to see a Bengali" in the position.

  5. However, she wants the Congress to announce him as its candidate before she commits her support.

  6. Ms Banerjee denied reports that she  will use the presidential poll to further push her demand for a three-year waiver on 22,000 crores owed by her state to the centre against loans.

  7. It's not just the post of president that's up for grabs.  Jaswant Singh of the BJP, according to sources, is hoping to be made Vice-President.

  8. That theory received a big boost from Mr Singh's appointment this morning with Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose Samajwadi Party provides external support to the UPA.

  9. The BJP reportedly may be open to supporting the UPA candidate for president in exchange for Mr Singh being accepted as the vice-president.

  10. Mr Yadav, Sharad Pawar and the DMK, all key allies of the Congress in the UPA coalition, have allegedly pledged -directly or indirectly, in Mr Pawar's case -to back Mr Mukherjee. So the only Congress ally who has yet to come on board is Ms Banerjee.