Kolkata: The Congress on Friday snubbed its ally CPI (M) and fielded sitting MP Pradeep Bhattacharya in Rajya Sabha polls from West Bengal while the Left Front nominated Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya for the Upper House.
The Left Front held an emergency meeting in the morning and decided to field Bhattacharya for the sixth Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal. The ruling Trinamool Congress has already decided on its five candidates for Rajya Sabha seats.
“We were forced to nominate our candidate because Congress did not think about a common Opposition choice. They never approached us and we were clueless about Pradeep Bhattacharya’s nomination,” said Biman Bose, chairman of the Left Front.
“Today is the last day to file nominations. Under such circumstances, we were left with no other option,” he said.
Congress was keen on supporting CPI party general secretary Sitaram Yechury for a third term in the Rajya Sabha. However, the CPI (M) Politburo decided not to give Yechury a third term. Later, Yechury clarified that he is not willing to seek a re-election.
After this, the Congress and the Left decided to go with their own candidates and now the fight is between former Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and Congress’ Pradeep Bhattacharya for the sixth Rajya Sabha seat.
Trinamool has already extended support to the Congress candidate as Mamata Banerjee is desperate to rope in Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections amid growing popularity of BJP in Bengal.
Till few days ago, there was a rumour that former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s name was suggested by the Congress as a possible candidate or the Rajya Sabha seat.
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