New Delhi: The Congress will reach out to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and urge her to support joint vice- presidential nominee Margaret Alva in order to keep opposition unity intact. "The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge will speak to the TMC leader and urge her to support Alva," a senior AICC functionary said.
The Congress move has come a day after the TMC declared that it will abstain from the crucial August 6 vote to elect the new Vice President of India, who is also the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. The TMC is miffed that it was not consulted over the candidature of Alva, a veteran Congress leader, when 17 opposition parties jointly approved her nomination on July 17.
However, CPI leader D Raja, who was present at the July 17 meeting held at the residence of NCP leader Sharad Pawar, countered the TMC stand. "Actually, the TMC was consulted. During the opposition meeting Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had consulted TMC. The TMC said they needed some time and will announce their decision," Raja told this channel.
Also read:"This isn't time for whataboutery": Margaret Alva on Mamata abstaining from VP elections
Alva, a former Governor, former union minister and former MP is contesting against NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankar, currently Governor of West Bengal. The opposition camp had expected that Banerjee, who has been at daggers drawn with Dhankar over the past years, would naturally support Alva but the TMC stand on Thursday surprised everyone.
The TMC position on vice presidential polls came on a day the NDA’s nominee Droupadi Murmu defeated the joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha to become the President of India and showed cracks in the opposition unity at a time when the Congress and other like-minded parties are trying to corner the government over issues like price rise, GST and Agnipath defence jobs scheme in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament.
Congress insiders said though strategists in the grand old party are miffed over the TMC stand on the V-P polls, Kharge would reach out to Banerjee for the sake of opposition unity. "It is for the TMC to explain their position but their stand has dented opposition unity. We have to confront the situation. Let us see what happens in the coming days," said CPI’s Raja.
The Congress insiders refuted the TMC leader’s charge that she was not consulted over the vice-presidential nominee and pointed out how the various opposition parties had backed Banerjee’s nominee for the presidential polls, Yashwant Sinha.
The Congress strategists further pointed out that till the July 18 presidential polls, the grand old party worked hard to mobilize support for Sinha across the country while the TMC did nothing for its former leader. Sinha had resigned as a TMC vice-president to accept the opposition presidential nomination.
The Congress insiders further said that Alva’s name had cropped up during the Opposition meeting only after CPI(M) candidate, and former chief election commissioner, SY Quraishi, declined the offer to become joint opposition vice-presidential candidate.
