KOLKATA: In a significant political development All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) decided to abstain from casting vote for the Vice Presidential election to be held on August 6.
AITC met at the official residence of party supremo and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the afternoon. Party sources said that 85 per cent of the members present in the meeting decided to abstain from the voting.
Partyโs General secretary Abhishek Banerjee later said, โThe way Vice President candidate was decided without consulting with the party.โ
โThe way they took the decision itโs not democraticโฆwe have to think of the future of the people of this country and not of the opposition or of the government. The decision will not affect the opposition unity,โ Banerjee adds.
Banerjee also added, โWe know how Jagdeep Dhankhar, the former governor, attacked people of Bengal in different ways. Hence we will not go with an NDA candidate at any cost.โ
On being asked if AITCโs decision will affect the opposition unity, Banerjee, who is also the nephew of Mamata Banerjee, said, โAITC believes that opposition unity does not depend on the yardstick of electing president or vice president.โ
He also denied the charges of being soft. โIf you think we are soft on any particular party that is a myth,โ Banerjee said.
After playing a pivotal role in the Presidential election, the party said that AITC had proposed some names for the Vice Presidential candidate and, importantly, those names were in consideration. However, suddenly the name was decided without consulting the AITC.
Party claims that AITC supremo shares a good equation with opposition candidate Margaret Alva but โpersonal equation does not matter.โ
โMargaret Alva has a good equation with Mamata Banerjee but the vice president of the country cannot be elected based on personal equations,โ the party said.
