On Sunday, it was reported that the Trinamool Congress had been hit by a rebellion of sorts in its Tripura unit after its party leader in the state were quoted as stating that 6 of their MLAs were likely to cast their vote in favour of NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, even though Mamata Banerjee had announced her party’s support for the opposition backed candidate Meira Kumar.
It should be noted that anti-defection laws don’t apply in the presidential elections, and thus an MLA or MP is free to vote going against the party’s choice.
According to the Tripura TMC President Ashish Saha, they took this decision in a meeting on Saturday night. They decided to oppose Meira Kumar as she is being backed by the CPM. According to Saha, it was decided that none of them will cast their vote in favour of a nominee who has been backed by the Marxist party.
The report also claimed that it was likely that all the 6 TMC legislators would also join the BJP sometime in July. This stance of the TMC legislators from Tripura is somewhat true to the initial ideology of the party, which grew in response and opposition to the Communist and Marxist establishment in the West Bengal.
Even the Mamata Banerjee of 2011 might have taken the same stance of boycotting any candidate supported by the CPM, as back then, she used to even claim that Marxists and Maoists were planning to kill her.
But TMC is not the only one to disappoint Meira Kumar in the state. Two more MLAs, this time from Congress, her own party, are reportedly set to vote for Kovind.
Kovind is scheduled to tour the North-East states on 6-7 July, and media reports claim that during this time, his support could further swell. Kovind reportedly enjoys the support of the National People’s Party of Conrad Sangma and also from the 15 Independent MLAs of Meghalaya.