Will SP support UPA and dump Mamata?

NEW DELHI: Congress sources on Friday morning claimed that Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has assured them of his support for their Presidential candidate.

Talks between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party seemed to have gained momentum giving credence to the buzz that Mulayam might extend support to the Presidential candidate proposed by the UPA.

Sources said that Mulayam, SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav and SP leader Naresh Aggarwal have been in deep consultation with the Congress and have said that the SP is not in favour of mid-term polls.

This effectively means that the opportunistic alliance forged by Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata and Mulayam might not last very long, unless Mamata too decides to back the UPA nominee for President. However, the possibility of such a thing happening is quite low.

Mamata and Mulayam had pulled out three names as their choice for President, rejecting the Congress's possible nominees Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Hamid Ansari. The TMC-SP alliance named Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, former President A P J Abdul Kalam as their choice for Presidentship.

However, while Mamata refused to back Pranab and said that Kalam was her first choice, Mulayam Singh Yadav hedged his bets and refused to openly say that the SP would back Kalam.

The UPA meeting later on Friday to formally endorse the name of the alliance candidate that sources say would be Pranab Mukherjee. TMC leader Mamata Banerjee will not be attending the meet.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee are likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before the crucial UPA meet, possibly to take stock of the volatile political situation that has rattled the party.

The Congress believes that it will be able to garner the support it needs to get its candidate elected.

If the United Progressive Alliance's Presidential nominee loses the Presidential elections, the government will fall and mid-term polls will be announced.