TMC's decision to abstain from VP poll disappointing: Margaret Alva

The Opposition’s vice-presidential candidate Margaret Alva on Friday described the Trinamool Congresss (TMC) decision to abstain from voting in the August 6 election as “disappointing” and said this is not the time for “whataboutery, ego or anger”.

Her reaction came a day after the Mamata Banerjee-led party announced that it will abstain from the vice-presidential election as it did not agree with the manner in which the Opposition candidate was decided, without keeping it in the loop.

“The 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 and unity. I believe, Mamata Banerjee, who is the epitome of courage, will stand with the opposition,” Alva wrote on Twitter.

Opposition meeting

The leaders of 17 Opposition parties, at a meeting, decided to field Alva, a former governor of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, as their candidate for the vice-presidential poll. The leaders of the TMC and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were not present at the meeting that took place at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar last Sunday.

Pawar subsequently said he was in touch with both Mamata Banerjee and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and was confident of getting their support. The TMC and the AAP had supported the joint Opposition candidate for the presidential election, Yashwant Sinha.

With agency inputs