An emergence of Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee as a consensus candidate for President may help the YSR Congress avoid letting its choice of partner in national politics known at this stage.
The YSRC is not of much significance, despite its enhanced strength, in the Assembly and the Lok Sabha in the event of elections to the top post as the party has only 3,900 of the 11 lakh Presidential electoral college votes.
However, any election would force party chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to choose between the UPA and its rival candidate, be it from NDA or the third front. “Any decision on siding with any of the players is critical and would leave people forming opinions on our future,” a YSRC leader said.
Congress sources said handling Reddy had been one among the many contentious issues between Mukherjee and Union minister P. Chidambaram. While Mukherjee was opposed to distancing Reddy from the Congress, it was Chidambaram who, sources say, was the architect of the moves to rein him in, both financially and politically.
Meanwhile, JDU MP Narayan Prasad Nishad met Reddy in Chanchalguda jail on Friday.