NEW DELHI: Determined not to repeat its past mistakes, the Opposition INDIA bloc plans to field a joint candidate for the upcoming Vice Presidential (VP) election following the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar.Sources indicate that the bloc would announce its nominee only after the ruling NDA led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) confirms its candidate. A meeting of the Opposition bloc leaders is expected soon to pick a ‘consensus candidate’ as it wants to give a ‘spirited fight’.In the last VP election in 2022, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) refused to support senior Congress leader Margaret Alva, who was pitted against the NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankhar, as the Opposition candidate. Alva’s nomination was approved after a meeting of 17 political parties. However, the TMC didn’t attend the meeting and it had also abstained from voting in the election. The announcement of Alva’s name had even come as a surprise for many Congress leaders. “The matter will be discussed with all INDIA bloc members. We don’t want a repeat of the last election’s situation when the TMC decided to abstain. We will put up a united front. All parties are on board… In both the House, the Opposition has a good presence; 40-60 ratio. We should fight. The party will actively be engaging with its allies to build consensus around a common nominee,” said a senior Congress functionary. “Let the government announce its candidate, we will come up with our nominee subsequently,” the Congress leader added.TMC sources also indicated that the party would go with the candidate decided by the INDIA bloc collectively in the election. “This time we are clear; we are onboard with all alliance partners,” said TMC leaders.
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