President-in-waiting Pranab Mukherjee in Kolkata; will he meet 'sister' Mamata Banerjee?

Kolkata: UPA's presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee received a rousing welcome as he arrived in Kolkata last night. This is Mr Mukherjee's first visit to the city after he was chosen by the ruling coalition as its nominee for the top post. The minister is slated to go to his native village Kinnahar later in the day. But all eyes are on whether he will visit Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the only Congress ally who had opposed his candidature.

Mr Mukherjee, who is currently the Finance Minister, has appealed to all parties seeking their support. "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 singled out Ms Banerjee, described her as his younger sister, and urged her to change her mind about backing him.

Ms Banerjee 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)

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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.

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