The chief minister and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee should clear her political stand on BJP otherwise it would be a breach of trust with voters who voted her to power in Bengal for third time giving a clear mandate against the saffron party.

This expression came from a section of minority clerics and academics, who are virtually aggrieved after the Trinamul Congress announced its decision to abstain from voting in the vice-presidential (VP) elections scheduled on 6 August.

Furfura Sharif cleric Pirzada Toha Siddiqui, who is close to the chief minister, while speaking to The Statesman, today, said, “I think Trinamul Congress virtually gave a walkover to the BJP indirectly following the Bengal ruling party’s strategy on President and VP elections. People in this state won’t tolerate hide-and-seek game between the Trinamul and BJP.”

“Mamata Banerjee will have to clear her party’s political stand on BJP. She should cough up in front of the minority voters whether she is against the saffron party or not otherwise it would have its impact on parliamentary elections scheduled in 2024,” Toha said from Furfura Sharif in Hooghly, where political leaders make beeline for Muslim vote banks ahead of every elections in the state.

On July 1, Mamata had dropped a bombshell and said that had BJP divulged that Draupadi Murmu would be their presidential candidate she would have supported her wholeheartedly as she was a tribal woman.

On Thursday, Murmu won the presidential elections by securing 64.03 percent votes. “Bengalis voted for Trinamul Congress against BJP and Mamata’s party had got a spectacular victory in the 2021 assembly elections in the state. Unfortunately, TMC’s political stand on two issues, mainly President and VP elections, is unwanted. It’s a breach of trust with TMC voters who brought her back to power for the third time since 2011. Now, her dubious role is getting exposed,” said Md Iahiya, chairman of Bengal Imams Association (BIA).

“Why does TMC abstain from voting in the VP election? It should participate in the elections even if the candidate Margaret Alva is defeated and it would have prompted Mamata Banerjee to say that her party is strongly against BJP,” he said.