Karat latched on to it making it a prestige issue. “We told the Congress there is only one name and if they did not want it, tell us why,” said a Left source.

The Congress, unlike the Left, does not give structured reasons for their actions and inaction and was unwilling to cite reasons for opposing Ansari. But the party was keen that the Left propose Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s name for Vice-President. It would have helped the Congress get its own man as Speaker and the party was worried about the management of the upper house by a legislative novice.

As late as Thursday evening, top party sources were clear that “some legislative experience is necessary” for the vice presidential candidate. (Soon after the announcement they changed their tone though. “When Balram Jakhar became Speaker his only experience was of being a junior minister in Haryana. There have been vice presidents before who did not come with any legislative experience,” a member of the Congress core committee said.)

However, the Congress did not want to directly confront the CPM. It fielded Lalu, its friend in need. On Thursday, when polling was on for the President, Lalu came out of a meeting with senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmad Patel and declared that “his party being the biggest after the Congress in UPA,” would “have some claims to make.” While that was mere posturing, he spoke to Karat and opposed the idea of a bureaucrat for the post. “Search in your own home,” he is said to have suggested to Karat, alluding to Chatterjee. Karat knew the origin of this suggestion and curtly told Lalu he knew how to run his party.

... contd.