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NEW DELHI: Congress leadership’s conundrum over presidential poll was compounded on Monday, with two of its probable candidates — finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and Vice-President Hamid Ansari — unable to get past the resistance of crucial partners and supporters.

If finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, widely seen as leading the race for Congress nomination, and Trinamool boss Mamata Banerjee remained deadlocked over the latter’s pressure for a special central financial assistance for West Bengal, SP boss Mulayam Singh Yadav repeated his reservations about Ansari, the other name on Sonia Gandhi’s list for the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

There are indications that the announcement of the presidential candidate may be pushed till the PM returns from the Rio conference on June 23.

A marathon meeting between Mukherjee and his officials and Banerjee’s emissary, West Bengal’s finance minister Amit Mitra, failed to resolve the stalemate over the financial package for the state, in what was seen as a setback of sorts for the frontrunner.

Sources said that Mukherjee turned down Banerjee’s demand for a moratorium on payment of interest on central loans citing fiscal constraint as well as the inability to play favourites among states. The moratorium would mean the Centre forgoing Rs 21,000 crore at a time when its own finances are strained. His offer to help the state government borrow from the market was brushed aside by the Bengal CM with her trademark derision. "...Everytime we raise this issue, we return empty-handed. If am satisfied, I speak to you, otherwise not".

The outburst followed growing indications that Banerjee has made her support for Mukherjee contingent upon his willingness to help her manage Bengal’s precarious finances.

Congress’s task was not helped by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav when he addressed a rare press conference here just about an hour later. The SP boss, who with his emphatic win in Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a key swing factor in the contest for the Rashtrapati Bhawan, reiterated his stand not to support a bureaucrat or anyone who did not belong to a political party; in short, a not-so-coded "no" to Ansari, a career diplomat who has never been a paid-up member of a political outfit.

The declarations by Banerjee and Yadav leave Congress stranded, hindering it from clinching the issue of whom to field in the July election. Although Congress has numbers stacked in its favour, it has to contend with the possibility of its lurking opponents BJP as well as non-NDA formations like CMs of Tamil Nadu and Odisha, Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik, capitalizing on a wrong selection to lure away its numbers.

With the dilemma stretching for weeks, a couple of its leaders were impelled to explore bold options, including fielding Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. The idea never got traction because of Congress’s fear that the economist may not agree. The reckoning that the free-spirited academic may not be mindful of regime’s political sensibilities was another reason why the idea never made it to the drawing board.

However, the fact that the thought crossed some minds is seen as symbolizing the exasperation in ruling party as the riddle over the race for Rashtrapati Bhawan lingers.

Although a section in the Congress wants to call Banerjee’s bluff and take its own call, Gandhi is reluctant to take the bait for the fear of becoming dependent on Yadav as well as UPA partners. Despite their delicate ties, Congress remains wary of the SP chief whom it sees as shrewd and fickle. Yadav’s assertion that his support to UPA was limited to keeping the BJP out and should not be construed as an all-weather pledge could have hardly reassured Congress.

He also demanded special assistance for UP and disclosed that Akhilesh Singh-led UP government has already made 11 petitions to the Centre, thus reinforcing the assessment that direct dependence on him will only encourage the SP boss to crank up the pressure to extract more gains.

An open partnership with Yadav, who may see the post of Vice President going to the Samajwadis, is sure to infuriate BSP, a risk that Congress does not wish to take.

The stands of SP and Trinamool have introduced a roller-coaster dimension to who gets Congress’s nod. Initially, Ansari appeared to be in a stronger position because of strong indication that Bihar CM Nitish Kumar may join the Left in backing him, and because of the assessment that Yadav would not oppose the prospect of a UP Muslim ascending to the top constitutional position.

Ansari stumbled big when Banerjee put a spanner in his works, and Yadav unveiled "no bureaucrat please" stand. Suddenly, the momentum appeared to have shifted to Mukherjee until Banerjee, defying the estimate that she would be loath to be seen as coming in the way of the presidential aspirations of a fellow Bengali, raised her ante against him.