The Trinamool Congress Wednesday accused union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee of trying to break the party after the United Progressive Alliance’s presidential candidate called Trinamool MP Kabir Suman to garner support.
“What Pranab has done is unethical… He is trying to break Trinamool. Both Pranab and Suman are masters of unethical politics,” state Rural Development Minister and Trinamool leader Subrata Mukherjee said.
Suman earlier described the finance minister as “the most suitable person for the president’s post” and announced his support for the veteran leader.
“The president needs to be an experienced and very efficient personality and Pranab ‘babu’ fulfils both the criteria. He has been an extraordinary and outstanding parliamentarian,” Suman said.
“Pranab ‘babu’ called me up today (Wednesday) in the morning. He enquired about my health and we had a discussion over the presidential poll. I told him that I personally want him to become the president,” Suman later told a Bengali news channel.
A Lok Sabha member and a popular singer, Suman currently has a strained relationship with Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee.
Trinamool Congress has been opposing Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature tooth and nail.
Last week, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh and Banerjee had virtually rejected the finance minister, whose name Congress president Sonia Gandhi had suggested for presidency during her talks with Banerjee.
The two parties named former president A.P.J. Kalam, former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as their three preferred candidates for president.
However, Banerjee was later left red-faced after Yadav said his party would support Pranab Mukherjee.
Banerjee remained firm on her stand and started a Facebook campaign to back Kalam, but the former president opted out of the race Tuesday saying he took the decision after studying the “totality” of the situation.