Congress proposes Pranab, Ansari for president, TMC, SP name PM, Kalam, Somnath

The presidential race took a dramatic turn yesterday with the Congress party declaring finance Pranab Mukherjee as its preferred choice, while, two key allies, TMC and SP, who have a six and four per cent share respectively of the electoral college vote share, have countered by suggesting prime minister Manmohan Singh's name, along with former President APJ Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

Earlier at 4:30 pm, Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi informed TMC leader and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee that her party had decided on the candidature of the union finance minister for Rashtrapati Bhawan.

At Banerjee's instance for a second name, Gandhi mentioned Hamid Ansari, the vice president.

The West Bengal chief minister said she told Gandhi that she could not commit right away. She said there was a need to discuss with Mulayam Singh and her own party and something could be said only later.

Banerjee, who was in the capital to meet to meet UPA chairperson, disclosed the Congress choices to the media, ending weeks of speculation.

A bigger surprise was to immediately follow at 5:30 PM when at Banerjee and SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav disclosed the names of Manmohan Singh, former president APJ Abdul Kalam and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee as their preferred nominees.