Presidential race leaves parties, alliances divided
The ruling UPA experienced the most dramatic turn of events with eight-year-old ally Trinamool Congress rejecting the official nominee of the alliance Pranab Mukherjee and backing a candidate in A P J Abdul Kalam, who refused to contest finally.
As Congress is still hopeful of mollifying Banerjee to vote for its nominee, Shakeel Ahmad, AICC in-charge of West Bengal expressed confidence "Mamata Banerjee was our valued ally, Mamata Banerjee is our valued ally and Mamata Banerjee will remain our valued ally".
His comments came days after party general secretary Digvijay Singh slammed Banerjee's "erratic" and "immature" handling of the Presidential election issue.
Samajwadi Party, which is supporting the government from outside, made curious twists and turns by first joining hands with Banerjee in rejecting the UPA nominees and then rallying behind Mukherjee.
Not to be left behind, the NDA camp is also facing similar troubles. Despite a dominant section in the BJP as well as its patron RSS in favour of a contest, ally Shiv Sena declared its support for Pranab Mukherjee while another constituent of the Opposition alliance JD-U stopped short of making its support to UPA nominee public. (MORE)