Decision on vice president later: Mamata

Kolkata, July 17 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Tuesday announced her party would not contest the vice presidential poll and instead consider Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's plea to support Hamid Ansari for the post.

"The issue of vice president will be decided later on, as there is still time. We are not contesting. Krishna Bose would have been a good choice. But for the greater interest, we are not contesting. Even the prime minister requested me to support Ansariji. So we will decide it later," Banerjee told reporters here.

Vice President Ansari was Saturday renominated by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as its candidate, but Trinamool Congress did not concur with the alliance's choice, clouding the possibility of his unanimous re-election, as the BJP pushed for a contest.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram later described Ansari's choice as "unanimous", though Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy said the party had suggested names of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, a former West Bengal governor and Bose, a former parliamentarian and wife of Sishir Bose, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose's nephew.

But Gandhi declined to contest.