Cong set to back TMC for Dy Chairman post, but CPM unsure
With the Government planning to hold an election for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson post which has fallen vacant with the end of P J Kurien’s term, the Congress has taken a step forward to consolidate Opposition unity by supporting Trinamool Congress candidate Sukhendu Shekhar Roy.
A party/group would require 123 votes to win the Deputy Chairman election in the House with strength of 245 members. Right now, the BJP has 69 members, and the Congress 51.
The parties, which may side with the Congress and the Trinamool, are the NCP, the Samajwadi Party, the BSP, the AAP, the RJD, left parties, the BJD and the DMK. With the TDP withdrawing from the NDA, it is also likely to align with Opposition.
In this event, the total votes of the Opposition would be 120. Coupled with one vote each from the IUMl, the Kerala Congress, the JD(S) and the Sikkim Democratic Front, the Opposition tally will go up to 124. The YSR Congress has two members, but the party has so far not disclosed its cards.
The Congress does not want the Opposition to lose this crucial post as it has been always held by the Congress, except between 1969 and 1977. On the other hand, the BJP is not ready to concede to a united Opposition candidate even though the numbers are stacked against it.
The election to the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson post whose nomination and election process will take place during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which starts on July 18, is now being seen as one more test of the Opposition’s ability to unite against the BJP for State and national polls. The last time when most of the Opposition parties came together was during the elections of President and Vice President of India.
Being the largest Opposition party in the RS, the Congress would have been the natural claimant for the post. The party, however, realises that to ensure a non-BJP victory, it needs the BJD, which has nine RS members and the TRS and the TDP, with 2 each.
Sources said Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Telengana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao favour the Trinamool candidate due to their close relations with Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee.
The last time an election took place for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson’s post was in 1992. The fight was between Congress candidate Najma Heptullah and Renuka Chowdhary who was then the Opposition’s candidate. Heptullah won with 128 votes against Renuka’s 95. Heptullah later joined the BJP and is now Governor of Manipur.
Though a majority of the Bengal Congress leaders remained tight-lipped about Congress’ reported support for the TMC candidate, some of them questioned the prudence of doing so against the backdrop of Trinamool’s repeated hacking of the Congress legislators in the State. “We have reports that at least five of our MlAs and one MP are joining the Trinamool on July 21” (TMC Martyrs’ Day),” said a Pradesh Congress leader wondering “how long will we support the TMC in Delhi and get bloodied here by Mamata in Kolkata.”
His sentiments were echoed by another senior leader and an MlA. “Mamata in her lust for power has virtually decimated the Congress in Bengal and here we are supporting her cause relentlessly in the name of fighting communalism,” he said.
The vocal leader, who was also a Minister in the Mamata Government when the TMC and the Congress formed the Government jointly in 2011, said, “Without playing defensive, the Congress should have been more assertive in fielding its own candidate as the largest party and tried to expose the so-called secular outfits like the TMC. Time has come when Mamata should be told that the voters outside Bengal will vote in Congress’ name and not her.”
Earlier, reports did the rounds about the Congress seeking support from the Trinamool for its nominee in the election for Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson, but Mamata made it clear to Congress leader Ahmed Patel about her party’s intentions.
The left Front has aired its reservations about supporting a TMC candidate. State CPI(M) sources quoting party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, “There is no question of backing the Trinamool because both the TMC and the BJP are two sides of the same coin and to be shunned equally.”
Though the decision would finally be taken by the politburo and the central committee, “it seems almost decided that the left will not vote for the TMC because both Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee are equally undemocratic and anti-people.”
Moreover, the Forward Bloc has asked the CPI(M) leadership no to go for any “misadventure” at the risk of breaking the Front itself.