Opposition unity for V-P poll collapses, TMC to abstain from voting

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 21 (ANI): Trinamool Congress (TMC) General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday said that the party will abstain from voting in the upcoming Vice Presidential poll.
"TMC will abstain in the upcoming VP polls as it was decided in the meeting. TMC will not support NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankar for the Vice President election nor will it support Opposition candidate Margaret Alva in the election," said Abhishek Banerjee.
"We know how Jagdeep Dhankhar was when he was the West Bengal Governor. He attacked the people of Bengal and the Chief Minister in different ways. Hence we will not go with the NDA candidate at any cost," he said.
According to the TMC MP, the Opposition without consulting the TMC decided to go with Margaret Alva as the Vice Presidential candidate. "The candidates were announced by the Opposition without consulting TMC which has 35 MPs," he added.
"We had proposed some names and those were in consultation. But the name was decided without our consultation. However, the Opposition unity does not depend on the yardstick of elections of President or Vice President. Alva has a very good equation with Mamata Banerjee but the personal equation does not matter," added the TMC General Secretary.
Meanwhile, just before Dhankhar was declared V-P candidate, Mamata Banerjee had a three-hour meeting with him at the Darjeeling Governor's House along with Assam CM Hemanta Biswa Sarma.

Dhankhar will face Opposition candidate veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Margaret Alva in the August 6 Vice Presidential election.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar had announced on Sunday, "We have unanimously decided to field Margaret Alva as our joint candidate for the post of Vice President."
The decision came after the opposition party leaders met in New Delhi at Sharad Pawar's residence to select a joint VP candidate.
Sharad Pawar said their candidate is being supported by 17 Opposition parties and they have also reached out to TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for supporting Alva. (ANI)