Abhijit Mukherjee is a proud man. By the time of filing this report, his father, United Progressive Alliance-nominated candidate Pranab Mukherjee, was leading the Presidential election with 438,502 votes against the Opposition-backed P A Sangma.
The tussle for No 2 position in United Progressive Alliance-II has put the spotlight on the political careers of A K Antony and Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar, which show striking similarities.
Dinesh Trivedi, a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, says, "Our government is seriously bothered about Anna's health. Why is Team Anna not requesting Annaji to break his fast, even once? I believe the government is more worried about Anna's health than even Team Anna."
After many months the UPA leadership seemed to exude a sense of confidence that they could get the better of an adverse situation in which they have found themselves for the last two years, writes Neerja Chowdhury
United Progressive Alliance's vice presidential candidate Hamid Ansari filed his nomination papers in Delhi on Wednesday for the poll, to be held on August 7, in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and leaders of the ruling UPA.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday took a dig at Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for her decision to support United Progressive Alliance's Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee, saying it was disappointed at the development and sought to know under what "compulsion" she had taken this stand.