The Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced on Thursday, July 21,  that it will abstain from voting in the vice-presidential election on August 6 as the party was “not consulted” before Margaret Alva of the Congress was selected as the Opposition nominee — a development that once again highlighted the lack of unity among Opposition parties as they bid to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The TMC is the second-largest opposition party in Parliament, with 23 Lok Sabha and 13 Rajya Sabha members, after the Congress.

“The TMC will abstain in the upcoming vice-presidential election. The question of supporting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate doesn’t even arise, and the way the Opposition candidate was decided without proper consultation and deliberation with a party which has 35 MPs in both houses, we have decided unanimously to abstain from the voting process,” said Abhishek Banerjee, TMC’s all-India general secretary, who is the nephew of party supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The decision, taken during a meeting between Mamata Banerjee and party MPs after the TMC’s flagship annual political rally on Thursday, also highlights recent fissures between the party and the Congress over who will take the lead in pitching a national alternative to the BJP. The closed-door meeting was attended by 32 TMC MPs. The party chief left it to the MPs to make a final decision, and 85% of them said that the party should abstain from voting, people aware of the developments said.