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In Bengal, Congress decides to back Left candidate in Rajya Sabha polls
The move will ensure only representation in the Parliament of the Left from Bengal, a state they ruled for 34-years.
The Congress in West Bengal will support the Left candidate in the coming Rajya Sabha elections in the state, a move that will ensure the only case of Communist representation from Bengal in either House of the Parliament.
“We will support the Left candidate,” Congress Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacharya said Monday.
The Congress-backed Left candidate is expected to win without a contest, as the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) had named candidates in four of the five Rajya Sabha seats from Bengal that are going for elections on March 26, along with 50 other seats in 16 more states.
“The name of our candidate would be announced in a day or two,” said CPI (M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty, without divulging any further detail.
At present, there is no Left member from Bengal in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
According to senior leaders of the Bengal units of Left parties and the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) wants to nominate someone who is an expert on Indian law and judicial system. The party has finalised the name of one such person who is also an eloquent speaker.
“The name has been sent to the Congress top leadership for their formal approval,” said a CPI (M) central committee member who wished to remain unnamed.
According to a senior leader of Bengal Congress, the party had urged the Left to nominate CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechuri from Bengal but the CPI (M) politburo turned down the proposal during a meeting on March 6.
Going buy the strength on the floor of the Assembly, TMC’s victory in certain in four of the five seats but the party’s votes will fall short for the fifth seat. On the other hand, a Left-Congress united candidate will ensure smooth victory.
March 13 is the last day for filing nominations.
A senior TMC leader said on Monday that the party is unlikely to field a candidate for the fifth seat if the Left and the Congress finally put up a single candidate.
In that case, elections in all five seats would go uncontested.
Mamata Banerjee on Sunday named four former parliamentarians, Mausam Noor, Subhata Bakshi, Aripta Ghosh and Dinesh Trivedi as the TMC’s Rajya Sabha nominees.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which emerged as TMC’s principal challenger in the state after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, is not putting up any candidate as it lacks the strength in the Assembly to get its own candidate elected.
In the 294-member Assembly, TMC has 229 MLAs, against 26 each of the Left and the Congress and 13 of BJP.
