New Delhi: Nearly 24 hours after she delivered a perfect storm for the government, Mamata Banerjee has delivered a sequel. She has refuted charges by the Congress that her behaviour violated political and ethical standards. She also says that she will not back down from her demand that former president APJ Abdul Kalam be among the contenders for the presidential candidate chosen by the UPA.  

The Congress has ruled out Mr Kalam as an option. 

Cornered over the presidential election by allies who turned on it with full force, the party is trying to rally its troops. Sonia Gandhi is meeting with the Prime Minister ahead of a larger core group meeting of the party. Congress chief ministers have been asked to come to Delhi to share their opinion. And a meeting of the UPA, the coalition headed by the Congress, is scheduled for tomorrow. Ms Banerjee told NDTV that she will skip that meeting, and ask for a conscience vote among those present.   

 

And so the Presidential election that has turned into a test of the Prime Minister's authority, the loyalty of his allies, and the premise that general elections will be held in 2014.  

Ms Banerjee was accused today by the Congress of betraying political and ethical boundaries. Firstly, the Congress said, she went public with confidential details of her meeting last evening with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Her second offence was that she suggested, along with another UPA ally Mulayam Singh Yadav, that the Prime Minister be moved to President - a humiliating signal that they no longer want him to steer the coalition. Ms Banerjee's party, the Trinamool Congress, retorted this evening that she did not cross any line and that she had been authorized by Mrs Gandhi to share the outcome of their session.

Oddly, it was 16 hours later, at 1 pm today that the Congress responded to categorically state that the Prime Minster isn't going anywhere. "Dr Mamnohan Singh cannot be spared," was how party spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi put it. He also asserted that the PM will remain in charge till 2014. Senior Congress minister Ambika Soni said this afternoon that Ms Banerjee's behaviour "doesn't make political or ethical sense." She added, "Never has there been an instance where the name of a sitting PM is bandied about like this."