Suvendu Adhikari's MP brother says he will vote for Yashwant Sinha

KOLKATA: Dissident TMC MP Dibyendu Adhikari on Friday said he would support opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the presidential election but would cast his vote in Parliament.

Dibyendu, the younger brother of leader of opposition in the West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari, said he would follow the directive of his party TMC.

"I will abide by the directive of my party TMC. I will vote for Yashwant Sinha but I won't go to the assembly. I will be going to New Delhi to cast my vote," he said.

He has been maintaining a distance from the TMC since last year's assembly elections, ahead of which his brother switched over to the BJP.

Their father Sisir Adhikari, a three-time MP, is also circumventing the TMC.

"We have learnt that an MP elected on a TMC ticket said he will vote for Yashwant Sinha in the presidential election but will go to Delhi and cast his ballot by secret ballot," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

"He should rather participate in party meetings in his hometown Kanthi on July 17, and then come to Kolkata the next day to cast his vote here, or else we would understand it is a lie," he said.

State minister Tapas Ray said Dibyendu and his father were continuing to stay away from party programmes for more than a year.

"We have seen how Sisir Adhikari had campaigned for the BJP in the assembly polls," he said.

Last year, the TMC submitted a petition before Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to disqualify Sisir Adhikari under the anti-defection law.

On Tuesday, NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu met BJP MPs and MLAs from West Bengal in Kolkata to seek their support.

However, Dibyendu and Sisir Adhikari did not attend the meeting.