With the BJP on Thursday announcing support to P A Sangma pitting him against UPA Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee, the Trinamool Congress on Thursday said its chief Mamata Banerjee was keeping a close watch and the party would take an ‘appropriate decision at the appropriate time’.
“TMC has not taken any final decision as yet. Our party supremo Mamata Banerjee is keeping a close watch on the situation. She will take an appropriate decision at the appropriate time,” party MP Kunal Ghosh told PTI here without giving a direct reply.
He was asked whether TMC would support Sangma in the Presidential race or abstain from voting since former President A P J Abdul Kalam, whom the TMC supremo wanted to contest, has already opted out. Ghosh said that the Trinamool Congress parliamentary party and the legislature party has already authorised Mamata Banerjee to take a decision on the Presidential poll issue on behalf of the party.
Will be happy if Mamata supports Pranab, says WBPCC chief
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradip Bhattacharya on Thursday said he would be happy if Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee supports UPA’s Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee.
“I will be happy if Mamata Banerjee supports Pranab Mukherjee as the next President of India,” Bhattacharya told reporters at the state secretariat here.
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Banerjee, whose party Trinamool Congress is a key constituent in the UPA, opposed Mukherjee’s candidature for the post of President and announced support for A P J Abdul Kalam.
Though Kalam has expressed his unwillingness to join the fray, Banerjee is yet to spell out her next course of action.
Mukherjee, nominated by UPA as its presidential candidate, will contest against former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma whose candidature was first backed by BJD and AIADMK.