Kolkata:
Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijeet Mukherjee has appealed to Mamata Banerjee to support his father's bid for the post of President of India. Ms Banerjee is the only Congress ally who is opposed to his candidature.
(Who is Pranab Mukherjee?)"I feel grateful that Congress president Sonia Gandhi nominated him for the post," Abhijeet told NDTV, as he waited for his father to arrive at their native village Kinnahar. "I am confident that he will become the President. I expect Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will also support him. Being his son, I appeal to her to support my father," he added. "When he becomes the President, he will hopefully have more time to read more books, which he loves," he quipped.
Mr Mukherjee, who is the UPA's presidential nominee, received a rousing welcome as he arrived at his home in Kolkata last night. This is his first visit to Bengal after he was chosen by the ruling coalition as its contender for the top post, and last as Finance Minister. "This is my last visit to Calcutta as Finance Minister," Mr Mukherjee told reporters in Kolkata before leaving for Kinnahar. He is likely to resign on June 26.
"I am very nostalgic to go to my village where I was born. You also don't know this, but I am basically a village boy. I've graduated from District College," he added.
The President-in-waiting refused to comment further on presidential polls and said he won't "be able to speak anything more on either the government or on party matters." But he did talk about the economy and rupee's fall - "I would like to say that yes GDP is 6.5%, there is inflationary pressure in the economy, there has been depreciation of value of Rupee vis-a-vis dollars...therefore, I am concerned...but I am not depressed. Basic fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong and there is resilience of the Indian economy." He also informed that on Monday, some measures will be announced to check the slide of Rupee.
Mr Mukherjee has appealed to all parties, seeking their support for his bid for the President's post. "I have been nominated as the presidential candidate. Several parties have supported my candidature. Besides the UPA, many other parties have also supported me. Around 14 to 15 parties who are not part of the UPA have supported me. I appeal to the leaders of parties who have not yet announced their decision to support me," he said outside his house in Kolkata last night.
In a similar appeal made on the day Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced his name, he had singled out Ms Banerjee, described her as his younger sister, and urged her to change her mind about backing him. All eyes are now on whether he will meet Ms Banerjee in Kolkata during this visit.
The Trinamool Chief has been estranged from the coalition over her refusal to support Mr Mukherjee. She campaigned aggressively for a new term for former President APJ Abdul Kalam; however, he eventually decided not to run for President, partly because the math appears to be in Mr Mukherjee's favour - besides Congress' allies, Mr Mukherjee also enjoys the support of two Left parties, as well as NDA constituents Shiv Sena and Janata Dal (United). This should fetch him 63 % of the vote on July 19.
(Pranab or Sangma for President? The Math)The Janata Dal (United), which belongs to the opposing coalition led by the BJP, has decided not to back PA Sangma, the former Lok Sabha Speaker who is running against Mr Mukherjee, and has been endorsed by the BJP. But the Opposition party hopes to convince Ms Banerjee to vote for Mr Sangma. "The logical pursuit of what Mamata Banerjee has started should be to support the Opposition candidate," BJP leader Arun Jaitley has said.
(Your choice for President? Vote Here)India's Electoral College that will vote for a new president is made up of 4,896 members - 776 members of parliament and 4,120 members of the state assemblies. Between them they have 10,97,012 votes and the winning candidate needs at least 50 per cent of these.