With a fiercely ambitious Mamata Banerjee not showing signs of immediately conceding to Rahul Gandhi’s leadership (in case of an all-party opposition) at the national level the Bengal Pradesh Congress has once again reiterated its love for the left Front.
Reaffirming its faith on CPI(M) general secretary the State Congress has once again offered to back his candidature in the coming Rajya Sabha elections.
PCC president Adhir Chowdhury on Wednesday reiterated his party’s support for Yechury “if he is once again nominated by the CPI(M) to Rajya Sabha.”
Chowdhury himself a five-time MP from Behrampore in Murshidabad said “the left and the Congress must come together to stop the menace of BJP in the State.” There was a deep-rooted conspiracy to destabilise the secular forces in the entire country, particularly Bengal he added.
“Standing against the backdrop of this turbulent situation where the very secular fabric of our State is at stake it is imperative on the part of ant-BJP, anti-Trinamool Congress parties to unite,” he maintained offering to support the CPI(M) general secretary who along with a majority of his Bengal comrades had been crying hoarse for a left-Congress alliance only to be defeated by the rival group in the CPI(M) led by his predecessor Prakash Karat.
Yechury who retired as an Upper House member last year was offered a seat from Bengal by the Congress but the CPI(M) refused it on the plea of “equidistance” from both BJP and the Congress. Four more seats from Bengal will go up for the grabs in March this year. While one seat was vacated by BJP leader and former Trinamool number two Mukul Roy, the other seat belongs to rebel and suspended TMC MP Kunal Ghosh. The third and the fourth seats currently held by Dola Sen and Vivek Gupta of the TMC will also be vacated by them.
The Trinamool is known to have sounded out Jaya Bacchhan for the nomination of at least one of these four seats. The former Bengali actress may consider the offer if she does not find an RS berth from UP on Samajwadi ticket, some TMC sources said.
While both Gupta and Sen are likely to be renominated the fourth seat is likely to be contested and the left and the Congress with their combined strength of 68 seats may comfortably win the seat.
last year after the CPI(M) declined the Congress offer to back Yechury to Rajya Sabha the tri-colour party nominated its own veteran leader Pradip Bhattacharya. On whether the left Front (read the CPIM) would consider the offer its leaders in Kolkata refused to comment saying the decisions would be taken by the central committee. If the CPI(M) revisits its decision then the two party’s chances of jointly contesting the coming panchayat elections will become more likely, experts say.