Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday rang up Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee, seeking her support for the United Progressive Alliance’s Vice-Presidential candidate Hamid Ansari.
Ms. Banerjee, however, told Dr. Singh that her party would communicate its final decision within two or three days.
Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh said here that party leader and Railway Minister Mukul Roy, who attended the UPA meeting in New Delhi, made certain “alternative proposals.”
Mr. Roy suggested the names of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, and Krishna Bose as the Trinamool’s choice for Vice-President, Mr. Ghosh said.
While Mr. Gandhi was the Governor of West Bengal during the Singur agitation period, Mrs. Bose is a former parliamentarian and widow of Sisir Bose, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s nephew.
Mr. Ghosh said the Trinamool was a responsible ally and the only constituent of the UPA which had to run a State government.