Unknown to most people, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and SP chief
Mulayam Singh Yadav held two late night meetings that settled SP support
for Pranab Mukherjee as President, sources close to Mulayam said today.

The first meeting took place on Wednesday night, hours after
Mulayam and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee stunned the
Congress by announcing the names of former president A P J Abdul Kalam,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath
Chatterjee as possible contenders for the office of the President.

Sonia moved even as her party was smarting from Mamata’s
disclosure that the Congress president wanted Mukherjee as the UPA
candidate.

Her second meeting with Mulayam took place on Thursday night, the sources said.

Some ten days ago, Mulayam had asked Sonia about the names doing
the rounds, including that of Mukherjee, but she gave no indication of
who she had in mind, the sources said.

The Wednesday night talks were said to have been inconclusive
with both trying to explain their position on the grievances each side
had against the other. But there was one fallout of this meeting —
Mulayam did not face the media on Thursday evening after his meeting
with Mamata who promptly announced that Kalam was “our candidate” for
President. That night, Mulayam and Sonia met again and sealed SP support
for Mukherjee.

Mulayam left New Delhi this morning, without explaining why he
distanced himself from Mamata and her announcement about Kalam. It was
left to SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav to explain that Mamata’s
“our candidate” could have also meant “my candidate”.

“There is no difference between we (hamara) and mine. Several
times, we use the word ‘hamara’ for a single person also,” Ram Gopal
said.

By evening, the UPA announced Pranab’s candidature and Mulayam
rang up Ram Gopal from Lucknow to act on the promise he had given to
Sonia. Ram Gopal, in turn, called up reporters to announce: “SP welcomes
Pranabda’s candidature from the UPA and the party will support his
candidature with all its might.”

Mulayam turned up in Lucknow via Agra. In the evening, he told
reporters: “Pranabji is a learned, senior and sincere candidate and the
SP will support him in the presidential polls. Ram Gopal Yadav has
announced support in Delhi.”

Asked about the three names he had floated along with Mamata,
Mulayam said: “It was only a suggestion and was not binding on anyone.
They did not accept it, that’s it.” To a query whether this had strained
his ties with Mamata, he said this was “not an appropriate time” and
the issue was “irrelevant”.

To a query on the likelihood of his party joining the government,
he said: “We are not joining the government. No one has invited us. It
is an absurd question.”

Nearly an hour before Mulayam announced his support for
Mukherjee, BSP chief Mayawati endorsed the UPA’s choice. “He is the most
learned, mature and most appropriate among the names which have emerged
so far for the president’s post. BSP will support him and if there is
need, we will vote for him. It is better if the election is unopposed,”
she said.

Mayawati said the decision was taken to keep “fundamentalist
forces at bay in the larger interest of the country”. She said Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi had spoken to her to seek
support for Mukherjee. “I gave my nod. We were in touch even in the
past,” she said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/2-meetings-how-sonia-broke-m&m/962625/0

As evening rolled on, most Ministers had left their offices. No one
was willing to comment on anything. For over two hours uninterrupted,
she was closeted with Finance Minister Amit Mitra, Panchayat Minister
Subrata Mukherjee and Urban Development Minister Firad Hakim in her
chambers. Sources said that Mamata is said to have remarked: “The
Congress trapped me.”

Outside the Secretariat, the first rumblings of dissent within
her party were heard this evening. A veteran TMC MP, speaking on the
condition that he not be named, said that Mamata had been “strategically
defeated.” He echoed the view of many of his colleagues when he said:
“She went to Delhi without doing any homework. She made everything
personal, her wish to defeat Pranab and defy the Congress without
looking at reality.”

Others in the party said that it was unfortunate that they were
hitting headlines for being confrontationist rather than for governance
in the state. “The number of those disgruntled is growing within the
party...If any one wants to plough the land with goats instead of cows,
this can be the only consequence,” the MP said.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dada-in-and-didi-out-bluff-called-she-puts-up-brave-face/962630/0

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is the toast of India's grand old
party for calling Mamata Banerjee's bluff on the presidential election.

After
the humiliation of recent assembly elections, Congress leaders are on
cloud nine after Gandhi showed her authority when Trinamool Congress
chief Banerjee sought to trip the UPA.

In no time after Banerjee
announced unilaterally that her party would prop up former president
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for presidency, the Congress hit back with a
vengeance.

Congress leaders are crediting the party's unusual
deftness to Gandhi. Gandhi, who is said to be ailing, got into a series
of quick behind-the-scenes confabulations with party colleagues, allies
and others to pick Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to contest the
presidential poll.

So much so that Gandhi quickly broke an
alliance that appeared to be forming between Banerjee and the Samajwadi
Party. The move has energised the Congress and the central government,
which has been trying to shake off charges of policy paralysis.

As
is her style, Gandhi, her aides said, led from the front. "Sonia Gandhi
has demonstrated leadership during the moment of crisis. Her focus will
now be on delivery of government programmes," said a senior Congress
leader who did not want to be named.

The way Gandhi dealt with
the mercurial Banerjee, who was increasingly seen holding the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government hostage, has infused a sense of
pride in the party, insiders said.

Only in March, the Congress
suffered a humiliating rout in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab and lost Goa.
"She has proved that Congress is the largest constituent of the UPA and
behaves like one," said another Congress leader.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/257610/sonia-hailed-showing-mamata-her.html