Kolkata, July 21: In a massive political development, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided to abstain from voting in the Vice President elections suggesting a fall-out within the Opposition parties.
The TMC is reportedly unhappy as ‘joint Opposition’ candidate Margaret Alva was chosen for the August 6 polls without consulting the Trinamool, reported. Former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is the NDA’s pick for the VP polls.
“Supporting an NDA (VP) candidate doesn’t even arise and the way the Opposition candidate was decided, without proper consultation and deliberation with a party that has 35 MPs in both the Houses, we have unanimously decided to abstain from the voting process,” TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee said in a press conference.
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“We disagree with the process of announcing the Opposition candidate without keeping TMC in the loop. We were neither consulted nor was anything discussed with us. So we can’t support the Opposition nominee,” he added.
Former Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva’s name was finalized after a meeting at the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar which was attended by all major opposition parties including the Congress, Left Front constituents, DMK, RJD, SP, and others.
Interestingly, after BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) announced Droupadi Murmu as its candidate, the dilemma in TMC, which played a key role in picking opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha, was evident as CM Mamata Banerjee said that Murmu could have been a consensus had BJP consulted with the opposition before fielding her.
