West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been outmanoeuvred by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Although Ms Banerjee is an instinctive politician, she did not do her homework properly and failed to assess the ground reality in the run-up to the presidential election. That Pranab Mukherjee belongs to her State was enough reason for her to support him in the first place. Her penchant for theatrics betrayed her. Her excessive faith in Mulayam Singh and her belief that she could force the Congress into submission following her success in installing her candidate as Railway Minister also failed her. Coalition politics involves last-minute strategies and Ms Banerjee could not gauge the pulse of even her own partymen.
Ganapathi Bhat,
Akola
At last, Ms Banerjee has decided to vote for Mr. Mukherjee. The last-minute move is a desperate one, aimed at snubbing the CPI (M) which decided to support Mr. Mukherjee to highlight the growing differences between the Congress and the TMC.
A.G. Rajmohan,
Anantapur
