'Mamata Banerjee is...': Margaret Alva after TMC decides to abstain from voting in Vice President poll

New Delhi: After NDA's Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu secured a comfortable win over Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, to become India's first tribal person to be the President, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress' decision to abstain from voting in Vice President poll has created a stir in the Opposition camp. 

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien said the Congress should view the Mamata Banerjee-led party as "equal partners" as he objected to the way the joint Opposition candidate for the vice presidential poll was chosen. O'Brien was quoted by PTI, "We have the highest regard for Margaret Alva and we respect her legacy. However, we have opposed the manner and method in which the candidate was decided."

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), which skipped the Opposition meeting to choose their vice-presidential election candidate, has alleged that they were informed of the choice barely 20 minutes before the press conference to announce the name was to be held. O'Brien, the leader of the Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party in the Rajya Sabha said the TMC had announced on July 16 that it will take a decision on the vice-president candidate in its meeting on July 21. The meeting of the Opposition parties to choose their joint candidate for the vice-presidential polls was convened by Congress. It was during the meeting that attempts were made to contact Banerjee and other TMC MPs, including O'Brien, Opposition leaders said.

Margaret Alva, the Opposition candidate for the Vice Presidential poll scheduled on August 6, on Friday termed the Trinamool Congress' decision to abstain from voting as disappointing, adding that this is not the time for 'whataboutery'. "TMC's decision to abstain from voting in the VP election is disappointing. This isn't the time for 'whataboutery', ego or anger. This is the time for courage, leadership & unity. I believe, @MamataOfficial, who is the epitome of courage, will stand with the opposition," Alva tweeted.

The Trinamool Congress has that its MPs in both the Houses of the Parliament will abstain from voting in the poll to elect the next Vice President of India. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, which was attended by 33 out of the 35 Trinamool MPs.

"Each member was given the opportunity to present his/her views in front of the Chief Minister. Thereafter, 85 per cent of the MPs present at the meeting voiced their view in favour of abstaining from voting in the Vice Presidential poll," Trinamool's national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee told mediapersons after the meeting.

He said while the question of supporting NDA nominee Jagdeep Dhankhar does not arise, Trinamool has strong objections to the opposition parties announcing the candidature of Margaret Alva as their candidate without consulting the Trinamool leadership or Mamata Banerjee.

Leaders of Opposition parties, however, contended that they were in touch with Mamata Banerjee on the issue. "Even during the meeting (of opposition parties) Sharad Pawar called up Mamata Banerjee and was told that she is in an official meeting online. Then Congress leader Jairam Ramesh spoke to some MPs, including Derek O'Brien, and they all sought two to three days to get back with a decision. We were given to understand that they will support joint Opposition candidate Margaret Alva. Their reason for abstaining is not true," CPI leader D Raja said.

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He wondered why the TMC abstained from the vice-presidential election when the NDA candidate was Jagadeep Dhankhar who, a West Bengal governor, was in constant battle with the Mamata Banerjee-led party. "Was the fight of the TMC with the then Governor only a shadow fight? It is Mamata Banerjee who has to justify the message that she is giving out by abstaining. She has to justify her political plank of moving away from the Opposition parties. She is the reason that the cracks in opposition unity are showing. She has to answer many questions," Raja said.

(With inputs from A