West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has announced it would abstain from upcoming vice presidential election.
Saying that this is not the time for "whataboutery, ego or anger", the Opposition's Vice Presidential candidate Margaret Alva on Friday described the Trinamool Congress's (TMC) decision to abstain from voting in the August 6 election as "disappointing".
Alva's reaction comes a day after the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC 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," said Alva in a tweet.
Leaders of 17 Opposition parties had finalised Alva's candidature. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and TMC were not part of the meeting that took place at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar's residence.
Alva is a senior Congress leader, a former MP, a former Union minister, and a former governor of Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Goa.
Pawar had at the time said that 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. Sinha was defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Droupadi Murmu.
The ruling NDA has nominated former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as its candidate in the vice-presidential poll.
"There is no question of supporting the NDA candidate, especially Jagdeep Dhankhar. The TMC lawmakers have unanimously decided not to take part in the vice-presidential election," said TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday after a meeting of the party MPs at Mamata Banerjee's Kolkata residence.
Abhishek, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleged that the Opposition candidate was decided without proper consultation and deliberation with his party, which has 35 MPs in both houses of Parliament.
He said, "We disagree with the process of announcing the Opposition candidate, without keeping the TMC in the loop. We were neither consulted nor was anything discussed with us. So we cannot support the Opposition nominee."
(With PTI inputs)