New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress has decided to abstain from voting in the Vice President election to be held on August 6.
Ruling BJP has fielded Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar while Margaret Alva is Congress-led opposition’s vice president candidate.
Trinamool Congress MP and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhijit Banerjee said the party had unanimously decided not to support either Dhankhar or Margaret Alva.
“The question of supporting the NDA (BJP-led National Democratic Alliance) candidate doesn’t even arise. The way the opposition candidate was decided without proper consultation and deliberation with a party which has 35 MPs in both the houses, we have decided unanimously to abstain from the voting process,” Banerjee told reporters.
Regardless of the split in the opposition ranks, for Mamata Banerjee, the benefit of Dhankhar’s elevation as Vice President of India – which moves him out of Bengal to Delhi – far outweighs any show of unity.
“On one side is NDA’s Dhankhar, on the other side is Margaret Alva. There was a consensus that with Dhankhar’s conduct and heavy bias, his assault on the people of Bengal in the past three years…there is no way we can support the NDA candidate,” Banerjee said.
“On the other hand, the opposition candidate was decided without us being consulted. A senior leader reached out to Mamata Banerjee but only after the meeting,” he added.