Former Guv Margaret Alva to take on Bengal Guv Dhankhar
It’s kisan vs woman in the vice-presidential contest. After the BJP put up West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, hailed as a “kisan putra” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Opposition on Sunday pitted former Union Minister Margaret Alva against him.
Incidentally, as an occupant of the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata, Dhankhar has a running feud with the Opposition’s best-known woman face and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Alva (80) a, former Union Minister and former Governor of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, was on Sunday unanimously chosen by leaders of 17 Opposition parties to be the joint Opposition candidate for the Vice-President’s post which will fall vacant after incumbent Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu ends his tenure.
"It is a privilege and an honour to be nominated as the candidate of the joint Opposition for the post of the Vice-President of India. I accept this nomination with great humility and thank the leaders of the Opposition for the faith they've put in me. Jai Hind," Alva tweeted soon after the Opposition parties announced her name.
Alva has been a four-term Rajya Sabha MP. She was also a Minister in the Governments headed by Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao.
The leaders of various Opposition parties had met at the residence of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar to decide on the common candidate for the Vice-President's election. The last date for filing nominations is July 19 for the August 6 polls.
Announcing the decision, Pawar said that 17 Opposition parties have unanimously decided on Margaret Alva’s name.
The meeting was attended by all major Opposition parties including the Congress, Shiv Sena, Left Front constituents, the RJD, the SP, and others. Among the attendees were Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja and Binoy Viswam, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, DMK's TR Baalu and Tiruchi Siva, SP's Ram Gopal Yadav, MDMK's Vaiko and TRS' K Keshava Rao.
The IMUL's ET Mohammed Basheer and Kerala Congress (M)'s Jose K. Mani were also present.
The TMC and AAP were not present in the meeting but sources said they offered support to Alva.
