Calcutta, March 13: The CPM will send Citu state president Shyamal Chakraborty to the Rajya Sabha and renominate its two sitting MPs, Cooch Behar’s Tarini Roy and former mayor Prasanta Chatterjee.
The Left Front today resolved the row over seat-sharing in the Upper House with the Forward Bloc agreeing to ask its sitting MP, Barun Mukherjee, to step down and make way for the CPI nominee.
In exchange, Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas will return to the Rajya Sabha for the fourth consecutive term.
The CPI is likely to nominate R.C. Singh, its state secretariat member and veteran trade union leader from Burdwan, party sources said.
Front chairman Biman Bose said the ruling coalition would support an “independent” candidate to stake claim to the fifth seat, held by Trinamul Congress’s Dinesh Trivedi, who has been renominated.
Bose admitted that A.S. Malihabadi, the editor of a local Urdu daily, had figured on the Left’s list of possible candidates, but added that “other candidates are also under consideration”.
The decision would be taken by tomorrow, the front chairman said.
However, according to CPM sources, the party is waiting for the Congress’s nod as Malihabadi will file his nomination as a “consensus candidate” of the two parties.
Even if a section of the state Congress plays spoilsport, the CPM hopes the Congress high command will convince its 23 MLAs to vote for Malihabadi as both parties are eyeing minority votes.
After voting for its four candidates, the front will be left with 39 votes while 49 votes are needed for winning a seat.
Saturday is the last day for filing nominations for the five Rajya Sabha seats from Bengal that will fall vacant at the end of this month.
Some Bloc leaders accused the CPM of “instigating” the CPI and other partners to pile pressure on their party and ask Mukherjee to resign.
With a section of the Bloc sulking, the CPM has reason to smile as it signals a rift in the mini front, which had become increasingly aggressive against the Big Brother.
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