New Delhi/Kolkata, Agency. Vice President Election 2022: New Delhi/Kolkata, Agency. The unity of the opposition has suffered a major setback in the Vice Presidential election. Trinamool Congress (TMC) will not participate in the Vice Presidential election. After a meeting with all the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members of the party at the residence of Mamta Banerjee in Kalighat, CM’s nephew and Trinamool General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said in the press conference that TMC will stay away from the Vice Presidential election. There is no question of supporting NDA’s Vice Presidential candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar. We know how Jagdeep Dhankhar was when he was the Governor of West Bengal. They attacked the people of Bengal and the Chief Minister in different ways. So we will not go with NDA candidate at any cost.
He said the opposition’s candidate was decided without keeping the TMC in the loop in an objectionable manner. We have unanimously decided to abstain from the voting process as the opposition candidate was decided without due consultation and deliberation with the party having 35 MPs in both the houses, he said. The TMC general secretary said that we had proposed some names and they were in consultation, but the name was decided without our consultation. However, opposition unity does not depend on the criteria for the election of the President or the Vice President. Mamta Banerjee has very good equations with Margaret Alva, but personal equations do not matter. Meanwhile, just before Jagdeep Dhankhar was announced as the Vice Presidential candidate, Mamata Banerjee along with Assam CM Hemant Biswa Sarma had a three-hour meeting with him at the Darjeeling Governor’s House.
Supporting an NDA (VP) candidate doesn’t even arise & the way the Opposition candidate was decided, without proper consultation & deliberation with a party that has 35 MPs in both the Houses, we have unanimously decided to abstain from the voting process: TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee pic.twitter.com/GpJobLsk68
– ANI (@ANI)
July 21, 2022
Sharad Pawar had announced his candidature
Announcing Congress leader Margaret Alva’s candidature after a meeting of 17 opposition parties last Sunday, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had said that AAP and Trinamool Congress may not have attended the meeting, but both the parties will support Alva. Sharad Pawar had also spoken of JMM being with the opposition in the Vice Presidential election.
Rift in the unity of the opposition camp
Margaret Alva filed her nomination last Tuesday as the United Opposition’s candidate for vice president. However, the absence of Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party leaders at the time of Alva’s nomination clearly indicates a rift in the unity of the opposition camp. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, RJD’s Manoj Jha, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and other leaders of opposition parties were present on the occasion.
Margaret Alva filed her nomination before the Returning Officer, Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh in the Parliament House. Although TMC and AAP vote for the candidate of the opposition camp, NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar’s victory in the Vice Presidential election is certain.
NDA has enough strength in Parliament
It is to be known that NDA-BJP has sufficient strength in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. YSR Congress, BJD, AIADMK etc. have already announced their support for Jagdeep Dhankhar in the Vice Presidential election. Whereas, contrary to Sharad Pawar’s statement that the opposition parties are united in the Vice Presidential election, the Trinamool Congress and the AAP did not turn up at the crucial occasion for Alva’s nomination. Not only this, none of the MPs of these two parties have signed as proposers and seconders of Alva. Now the Trinamool Congress has decided not to participate in the Vice Presidential election.
Edited By: Arun Kumar Singh
