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Rabi Banerjee
Rabi Banerjee

WEST BENGAL

RS polls: CPI(M) in a fix as Mamata supports Congress candidate

INDIA-ECONOMY-CURRENCY-PROTEST West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee | PTI

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given hints of a fresh political realignment in the state as she decided to support the Congress candidate in one of the Rajya Sabha seats.

Elections to the upper house will be held in six seats in the state. Mamata's Trinamool Congress has fielded its own candidates in all other five seats.

Mamata had earlier asked Congress leadership to field former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar in the seat vacated by CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury. However, the Congress high command renominated senior party leader Pradip Bhattacharjee.

Bhattacharjee received a phone call from Ahmad Patel, political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, about his renomination. Bhattacharjee is likely to get the support of the CPI(M), but the party politburo has yet to take a final decision on supporting the Congress candidate.

CPI(M) state committee had earlier proposed the name of Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, former mayor of Kolkata, for the seat. But once Bhattacharjee, one of the strong proponents of Congress-CPI(M) alliance in Bengal,  is in the fray, the state committee is in a fix whether to support another candidate or not.

Mamata’s decision to support the Congress candidate has put the CPI(M) on the spot. With the Trinamool's support, Bhattacharjee would easily sail through the polls even if CPI(M) decides to support another candidate.

“I think time has come to check the BJP. I would be happy if all parties vote me so that BJP will not be benefited,” Bhattacharjee said when asked bout Trinamool Congress support.

The CPI(M) wants to support Bhattacharjee at this juncture as they would like to keep the prospect of future alliance afloat. Even if the party had decided on the name of Bikash Bhattacharjee as the candidate, it has now asked the central leadership to reconsider the decision and support Bhattacharjee.

CPI(M) state unit has been on the war path with its central leadership on its understanding with the Congress. The state leaders privately came down heavily on the central leadership for canceling its prospect of Sitaram Yechury getting elected from West Bengal with the support of Congress.

Gautam Deb, senior central committee member, even went a step further and said, “It would be improper on the part of the central leadership to turn down the proposal of the West Bengal state committee.”

It was the Kerala lobby in the party which had scuttled the chance of Yechury getting elected from West Bengal to Rajya Sabha. Leaders of Kerala and Bengal are in a tug of war over the supremacy in the central committee.

Now, Mamata’s sudden change in decision has forced the CPI(M) central leadership to think twice whether to support a Congress candidate in Bengal or not.

It they give nod, it would be an alliance of Congress, CPI(M) and Trinamool in West Bengal to tackle the BJP.

Of the six Rajya Sabha seats, four are currently held by the Trinamool, one by the CPI(M) and one by the Congress.

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