The Congress Party finds itself caught in a bind by the decision of the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Trinamool Congress of Ms Mamata Banerjee to propose in public their own options as possible presidential candidates which are totally different from the preferences of the Congress.
According to the TMC, the preferences of the Congress are Mr Pranab Mukherjee , the finance minister, and Dr Hamid Ansari, the Vice-President. Mr Yadav and Ms Banerjee have sought to circumvent the preferences of the Congress without having to reject them by proposing three options of their own, namely, Dr.Abdul Kalam, former President, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr Somnath Chatterjee, former Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Through their preferences indicated in public, Mr Yadav and Ms Banerjee have sought to convey three messages to Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the Congress President.