The Trinamool Congress has decided to support the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) vice-presidential candidate Hamid Ansari. This comes as no surprise, since the party chief Mamata Banerjee had instructed her MPs to attend Sonia Gandhi's lunch meeting in New Delhi on Monday afternoon, just a day prior to the election on today.
The Trinamool MPs had earlier asked Banerjee to take a call on the candidate. 'It was important to go for the UPA candidate this time,' said a party source, remembering the month-long battle over the presidential poll when Banerjee had opposed Pranab Mukherjee's candidature.
The Trinamool Congress has 28 members in Parliament, 19 of which are in the Lok Sabha and 9 in the Rajya Sabha.
The railway minister Mukul Roy, who is the leader of Trinamool Parliamentary Party, said that the decision to support Ansari has been conveyed by Banerjee to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Ansari is comfortably placed in the electoral race.
The Trinamool MPs had earlier asked Banerjee to take a call on the candidate. 'It was important to go for the UPA candidate this time,' said a party source, remembering the month-long battle over the presidential poll when Banerjee had opposed Pranab Mukherjee's candidature.
The Trinamool Congress has 28 members in Parliament, 19 of which are in the Lok Sabha and 9 in the Rajya Sabha.
The railway minister Mukul Roy, who is the leader of Trinamool Parliamentary Party, said that the decision to support Ansari has been conveyed by Banerjee to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Ansari is comfortably placed in the electoral race.