Congress veteran Margaret Alva is joint Oppn VP candidate

New Delhi, July 17

Congress stalwart and former Union Minister Margaret Alva, who has also served as Governor of four states, is named as the joint Opposition candidate for the vice presidential election, the voting for which will take place on August 6.

The decision to field Alva against ruling NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankhar was taken at a meeting of 17 Opposition parties, which was held at NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s residence here today.

Announcing the decision, Pawar said, “Seventeen parties are on board for this unanimous decision. Our collective thinking is Alva will file for the VP nomination on Tuesday. We are trying to contact TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal. Last time they supported our joint presidential candidate.”

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said, “Margaret Alva, former Governor, former Union Minister, long-time MP and very distinguished representative of India’s wonderful diversity is the common Opposition candidate for Vice President.”

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said all Opposition parties were together in this election. Shortly after the announcement, Alva (80) tweeted: “It is a privilege and an honour to be nominated as the candidate of the joint Opposition for the post of Vice President. I accept this nomination with great humility and thank the leaders of the Opposition for the faith they’ve put in me.”

Alva has served as the 17th Governor of Goa, 23rd Governor of Gujarat, 20th Governor of Rajasthan and fourth Governor of Uttarakhand. A five-time parliamentarian, she had served as a Cabinet Minister in the government headed by Rajiv Gandhi.