India News | BJP Playing Dirty Politics over Presidential Election: TMC

Kolkata, Jul 13 (PTI) The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of pursuing "dirty politics" over the upcoming presidential poll by writing letters to West Bengal's ruling party lawmakers to seek their support for NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu.

Murmu was in Kolkata on Tuesday and met the saffron party's MPs and MLAs from the state to seek their support for the July 18 election.

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"The BJP is playing dirty politics over the upcoming presidential poll. The NDA nominee was in Kolkata and didn't ask for votes of opposition legislators. But the BJP leadership has written letters to our MLAs and MPs, seeking their support."

"When the candidate herself has not made any appeal, who are they to write letters? " questioned state parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee.

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The senior TMC leader also said the saffron camp should first ensure that all its MLAs from the state vote in favour of their nominee.

"Before seeking the support of TMC legislators, my advice is they should ensure that all its MLAs vote in favour of the NDA presidential nominee. Nominating a tribal leader won't make the BJP pro-tribal, as its policies reflect their anti-tribal mindset," Chatterjee said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had recently said that Murmu, a tribal BJP leader from Odisha, could have been a consensus candidate had the saffron camp discussed with the opposition parties before fielding her.

State Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said it is unprecedented that the presidential nominee has not made any appeal to opposition lawmakers for votes but the saffron camp is writing letters to TMC MLAs.

Reacting to the TMC's allegation, state BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the comment of the Bengal's ruling party leader reflects that they are in "confusion and dilemma".

"The TMC leadership and its lawmakers are divided. They do not know whom to support in the presidential poll. They are apprehensive that voting against Murmu might have an adverse impact among tribals," he said.

Major non-BJP parties of the country, including the Congress and the TMC, have named former union minister Yashwant Sinha as the joint nominee for the presidential election.

The BJP presently has 17 Lok Sabha MPs from West Bengal. Of them, Arjun Singh has switched over to the TMC but is yet to resign as a parliamentarian.

In the 294-member West Bengal assembly, the saffron camp has 75 MLAs. However, five of them have joined the TMC without resigning as legislators.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)