Another blow to Oppn as TMC chooses to not back Margaret Alva; know why Mamata’s party is abstaining from V-P polls

When the Trinamool Congress on Thursday announced it would abstain from the upcoming vice presidential election, its differences with the Congress became more evident.

The polls will be held on August 6 in which NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar will be challenged by Congress veteran Margaret Alva.

The TMC had given a clear indication that it would go a different path when Mamata Banerjee chose to not send her representative for an opposition meeting to pick up the V-P candidate.

Why has TMC decided to abstain?

After an hour-long meeting at Banerjee’s residence, the party said it could not go with NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankhar but could not support Alva either, as it had “not been consulted” on her candidature.

TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of 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.

“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”.

The Congress and CPM, however, dismissed the TMC’s claim of not being consulted on the matter, while alleging a “hidden pact” between the party and BJP.

CPM Bengal secretary Md Selim said: “Some prominent TMC leaders’ names were not included when the CBI filed a chargesheet in the coal scam investigation recently. We are paying the price now with the vice-presidential election.”