TMC not to back Oppn candidate for VP poll

New Delhi, July 21

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Thursday gave a strident call to reject the BJP and claimed that in 2024 Lok Sabha election, the “saffron party would be voted out of power” with other parties joining hands against PM Narendra Modi’s regime.

However, shortly thereafter she sprung a surprise and distanced herself from the Opposition as theTMC led by her announced that its MPs would not vote for Margaret Alva, fielded by Opposition parties for Vice President’s election.

Abhishek Banerjee, Lok Sabha member and Mamata’s nephew, said in Kolkata that the TMC would abstain from the election as it did not agree with the way the Opposition candidate had been decided upon without keeping the TMC in the loop. The announcement followed a meeting of TMC MPs held in Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence. The NDA candidate for Vice President’s post is former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.