Calcutta, July 17: Mamata Banerjee today announced her “painful decision” to vote for UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee in the presidential polls as she was “left with no other option”.
Mamata hurriedly convened a meeting with her party leaders at the Writers’ Buildings this afternoon. After the 30-minute session, the Bengal chief minister announced her decision, which she said, was not “a happy one”.
“We will vote for Pranab Mukherjee in the presidential election. It is a painful decision. I am finding it difficult to accept. It was a difficult one for us. I cannot smile while I am saying this. For the sake of coalition politics, the people, the state and democracy we have taken this decision. There was no other option before us,” Mamata said.
Mamata explained why she had not other option but to vote for Mukherjee. “We could have abstained. Or we had the option of voting for Pranabda or P.A. Sangma. If we didn’t vote that would not have made much difference. If we vote for Pranabda, he gains the 50,000 votes that we have. We have MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Assam and Uttar Pradesh. I feel for the larger interest we have to vote in his favour,” Mamata said.
Trinamul sources said Mamata was clear that she could not vote for Sangma, though he had come to Writers’ Buildings seeking her support as she did not want to be seen voting along with the BJP. Trinamul insiders said Mamata had considered her options hard before taking the decisions.
“I have been in touch with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and also Soniaji. She knew my mind,” Mamata said, adding that she had taken the decision and was waiting for the right moment to reveal it.
Mamata said she had conveyed her decision to the Prime Minister. “He asked me whether we would support Pranabda. I told him you would be happy to know that we have decided to support him. He was very happy,” she said. “Trinamul is the only party that could have taken this decision without any provocation, appeal, conspiracy, financial deal, mission or force. We have not struck any deal. This is for the sake of coalition politics,” she said.
Mamata also said Pranab Mukherjee was “Banglar manush” (from Bengal). “So, I took this opportunity to vote for him,” Mamata said, indicating that she did not want to be seen as someone trying to spoil the chances of a Bengali making it to the top job in the country.
Mamata had pitched hard for a second term for former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Although Kalam had refused to contest, Mamata today made it clear how her party would have voted had he agreed.
“We wanted A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to be the unanimous choice. But, he did not agree to contest because of political non-cooperation. Many political parties did not support him. This was very unfortunate,” Mamata said.
Mukherjee made verbal appeals to Mamata, though he did not show any inclination to meet her when he came to interact with the Congress and Left legislators at the Bengal Assembly on July 9. The letter that he wrote to Mamata seeking his support was addressed to “dear friend” and made no mention of Mamata as the chief minister.
Trinamul sources said compulsions of running the Bengal government had also forced Mamata’s hand in voting for Mukherjee. “The Centre can create lot of problems for the state government and it is not just about finances. By supporting Pranabda, Mamata has shown that she is committed to the UPA. Now, it is for the Centre to decide how it will treat the state,” said a senior Trinamul minister.
Mukherjee welcomed Mamata’s decision to back his candidature. “I must welcome the decision of Mamata Banerjee and her party Trinamul Congress for supporting my candidature for President’s post,” Mukherjee told The Telegraph over the phone tonight.
Asked about Mamata’s claim that she had helped him when he was in trouble after having been thrown out of the Congress, Mukherjee said: “Today, I don’t like to comment anything on something that happened in the past.”
Murshidabad strongman and Behrampore MP Adhir Chowdhury, who does not see eye to eye with Mamata, also welcomed the chief minister’s “belated decision to back Pranabda”.
