Vice presidential poll: Trinamool to abstain, says not kept in loop

The Trinamool Congress on Thursday announced it would abstain from the upcoming vice presidential election, as it does not agree with the way the Opposition candidate was decided without keeping the party in the loop.

The National Democratic Alliance has nominated former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as its candidate for the election scheduled to be held on August 6.

Opposition parties had on July 17 decided to field former Rajasthan governor Margaret Alva as their joint candidate for the poll.

"There is no question of supporting the NDA candidate, especially Jagdeep Dhankhar. In today's (Thursday's) meeting, TMC lawmakers unanimously decided not to take part in the vice presidential election," Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said.

Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleged that the Opposition candidate was decided without proper consultation and deliberation with the party, which has 35 MPs in both the Houses.

TMC MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha held a meeting at Mamata Banerjee's residence to decide on the party's stand for the vice presidential poll.

"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 said.

Banerjee said that on one hand, NDA's candidate is Dhankhar, who was 'completely biased' during his tenure as the state's governor for the last three years, and on the other, Alva was chosen without any deliberation with TMC.

"Initially, it was said that Congress had called a meeting, and then the venue was shifted to NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence. A senior politician reached out to Mamata Banerjee but only after the meeting...this is not the way," he said.

When asked whether the TMC's decision would adversely impact the Opposition unity, he replied in the negative.

"Opposition unity is not dependent on presidential and vice presidential elections. If you are really interested in Opposition unity, you have to rise above ego and self-interest. You can have Opposition unity through joint programmes on issues concerning the masses. But we need to change our approach," he said.

Banerjee said the TMC leadership had earlier proposed a few names for the vice presidential nominee and a discussion was underway but 'all of a sudden a candidate was announced'.

"We had proposed a few names, and a consultation process was underway. But all of a sudden, a candidate was announced. Although Mamata Banerjee shares a cordial relationship with Alva, but personal equations cannot be the criteria for selecting vice presidential candidate," he said.

Banerjee said TMC has the right to 'ideologically differ' on the issue of candidate selection in the vice presidential poll.

"As per electoral arithmetic, TMC's decision to abstain will not help the NDA candidate. It is our right to take a decision," he said.

Speaking on ED summons to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Banerjee said the party has repeatedly raised its voice against central agencies being misused to harass Opposition parties.