‘Not the time for ego’: Oppn candidate Margaret Alva on TMC’s decision to skip V-P poll

In the vice presidential poll, Margaret Alva is pitted against NDA nominee Jagdeep Dhankhar, who has been at loggerheads with the Mamata Banerjee government on a range of issues in West Bengal ever since he assumed the charge as the Governor of the state in July 2019.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | Updated: July 22, 2022 05:21 PM IST

2 min read

Opposition candidate for the vice presidential election Margaret Alva pictured with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and several other opposition leaders, during her nomination filing, on Tuesday. (Express Photo)

A day after the Trinamool Congress announced its decision to abstain from voting in the vice presidential election, Opposition candidate Margaret Alva termed the party’s move “disappointing”.

“This isn’t the time for ‘whataboutery’, ego or anger. This is the time for courage, leadership & unity,” Alva wrote on Twitter, adding that she hopes that TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee will support the opposition.

“I believe, @MamataOfficial, who is the epitome of courage, will stand with the opposition,” the former Union minister added.

On Thursday, the TMC stated that it could not go with the NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankhar but could not support the Opposition’s Margaret Alva either, as it had “not been consulted” on her candidature.

Announcing the decision, party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said: “Margaret Alva has a good equation with Mamata Banerjee but Vice President of the country cannot be elected based on personal equations. So the party has certain issues which were left to MPs to decide and 85% of them said, we should abstain from voting process.”

Referring to the claim by “a senior Opposition leader” that he tried to reach out to Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee said: “But that was after the decision on the candidate was taken. The way the Opposition candidate was decided without consulting a party which has 35 MPs, we have decided to abstain.”

In the vice presidential poll, scheduled to be held on August 6, Alva is pitted against NDA nominee Dhankhar, who has been at loggerheads with the Mamata Banerjee government on a range of issues in West Bengal ever since he assumed the charge as the Governor of the state in July 2019.

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