Some party elders were seeking the removal of Mạnh as general secretary. While Đỗ Mười and Lê Đức Anh supported Mạnh's re-election, Võ Văn Kiệt and Võ Nguyên Giáp opposed him. However, all four of them agreed on retaining Nguyễn Văn An in the 10th Politburo. One point in Mạnh's favour was his lack of grave mistakes during his first tenure, and the lack of a credible opponent. Võ Văn Kiệt supported Nguyễn Minh Triết's candidacy for the general secretaryship, while the retiring prime minister Phan Văn Khải supported a possible candidacy by Nguyễn Văn An, even if the Central Committee had voted for his Politburo retirement in the "survey". Those who supported Mạnh's removal based their campaign on the fact that his son-in-law had worked at PMU 18 Department of the Ministry of Transport during the PMU 18 scandal. A more damaging rumour was that Mạnh had included Nguyễn Việt Tiến, the Deputy Minister of Transport who was implicated in the scandal, on the Central Committee nominee list.Also, Dao Đào Đình Bình, the Minister of Transport, was a close associate of Mạnh. Mạnh was accused of nepotism and of establishing a patronage system for himself within the party and state; his son Nông Quốc Tuấn was elected as Head of Youth Organizations in March 2005, and was thus entitled to attend the 10th Congress. At a meeting with some veteran politicians, Mạnh was asked by Lê Khả Phiêu and Võ Nguyên Giáp to resign from his post and not to run for a seat in the 10th Central Committee – Mạnh, however, refused to resign.