It is no secret that Mamata Banerjee is no great fan of Pranab Mukherjee, which is the reason why the Congress has so far hemmed and hawed over naming the finance minister as its nominee for President. But the thing is, how do you nix him without hurting your Bengali constituency?

It is no secret either that Mamata has strong feelings towards her political rivals in Bengal. Nixing Pranab would give a handle to the Marxists to beat her with, so what will the Trinamool Congress chief do?

Simple, say sources in New Delhi, pull out former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee's name.

The lifelong Marxist, if you recall, fell foul of his party colleagues over what they felt was his partisan approach to the UPA government, and was removed from the CPM.

Now, Mamata gambles, how about nominating Somnath in place of Pranab? It helps her retain her Bengali card, as well as score over her Communist rivals who will be hard put to explain their vote against a son of Bengal.

Of course, sources also add that all this is part of the miasma of speculation that is wafting up from the corridors of power in New Delhi, in which it is very difficult to sift the truth.