TMC to abstain from vice presidential election — Abhishek

Kolkata, July 21 (PTI): TMC will abstain from the upcoming vice presidential election as it does not agree with the way the Opposition candidate was decided without keeping the party in the loop, senior leader Abhishek Banerjee said on Thursday.

NDA has nominated former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as its candidate for the election.

Opposition parties on Sunday decided to field former Rajasthan governor Margaret Alva as their joint candidate for the poll.

“There is no question of supporting the NDA candidate, especially Jagdeep Dhankhar. But after today’s meeting with party lawmakers, it has been decided that we will abstain from the vice presidential election,” Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress national general secretary, said.

“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 added.