Mamata-Himanta meeting: No longer a curious case as TMC decides not to go against Dhankhar

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided that her Trinamool Congress (TMC) will abstain in the August 6 vice-presidential elections. That means her party will not vote for opposition nominee and Congress veteran Margaret Alva and thus indirectly help her bete noire and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Vice-presidential candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Prima facie this appears to be the outcome of the meeting between Banerjee, Dhankhar and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at the Raj Bhavan in Darjeeling on July 13.

Three days after that meeting, the BJP on July 17 announced Dhankhar as the NDA's vice-presidential candidate.

It is an open secret that Banerjee wanted Dhankhar out of West Bengal at any cost. The two were engaged in an acrimonious tussle ever since Dhankhar took over as West Bengal governor in July 2019.

Their frequent run-ins over almost every issue would go down in history as the worst ever between the two highest constitutional offices of a state.

Is her decision a quid pro quo? West Bengal Congress president and party's leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called it the "Darjeeling Pact", claiming that there has been some sort of understanding between the TMC and the BJP on the presidential and vice-presidential elections.

Congress leaders alleged that the Members of Parliament (17 of them) who cross-voted or whose votes were declared invalid mainly belonged to the TMC. So far, no authentic information about this is out in the open.

Addressing a rally at Kolkata on Shaheed Diwas (Martyr's Day) on Thursday (July 21), Banerjee was unsparing on the BJP but at the same time extended her support to the BJP government's 'Har Ghar Tiranga' initiative from August 13 to August 15, insisting that she herself would lead the campaign, which is part of the Centre's nationwide Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

The TMC observes martyrs’ day every year on July 21 to commemorate the 13 Youth Congress supporters killed in the police firing in 1993 during the Left Front government. Banerjee was then a firebrand Youth Congress leader.

Her decision sealed the victory of Dhankhar in the August 6 vice-presidential polls, in which Alva, as it is, stood no chance.

That said, it would be interesting to see who finally occupies the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata and if the relations between the two highest offices in the state become cordial or nosedive further.

For the time being, Manipur governor La Ganesan has been given the additional charge of West Bengal.