With Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury making it clear that he is not keen to seek a third term to the Rajya Sabha, sections in the Congress are demanding that the seat in the Upper House be given to their party.
Elections to six seats from Bengal will be held in August. For five seats, the Trinamool Congress [TMC] will nominate its members. The sixth seat is up for grabs between the Congress and the Left parties.
In 2011, the Left parties nominated Mr. Yechury and the Congress sent Pradip Bhattacharya to the Upper House. Their terms will expire in August.
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A number of Congress leaders have made it clear that the Rajya Sabha nomination should be from their party as the party has more seats in the State Assembly.
Congress sources said party chief Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi have told them that the party would “either back Yechury or no one from the Left.”
“We had decided on supporting Mr. Yechury but in the circumstances if the party leadership seeks my opinion, I will try to come up with the best possible choice,” West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.
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Mr Bhattacharya, 72, is not averse to another term. But former MP Deepa Dasmunshi and State Congress general secretary Omprakash Mishra are considered strong contenders.
Soft corner
The party has a soft corner for Ms. Dasmunshi because of her ailing husband, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi. “The Gandhi family has a soft corner for Priya-da, but the question is how long will they back someone like Deepa Dasmunshi, who has steadily lost her base in Raiganj,” said a senior Congress leader.
In the last Lok Sabha polls, she was defeated by the CPI-M’s Md Salim and has since kept a low profile.
Mr. Mishra has not won a major election but is a popular face of the party on television. He can effortlessly articulate the party’s position on many issues, according a leader close to the Central leadership.
He has a good understanding of Asian politics, especially China, which may help the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, a section of the leadership feels.
More importantly, he is considered the architect of the Left-Congress alliance in the 2016 Assembly polls, an alliance that is still surviving and perhaps is the only hope for both the Left and the Congress.
The Left parties, however, are keeping their cards close to their chest. “It is too early to comment on the matter. The Rajya Sabha nomination will be decided by the end of June,” CPI-M polit bureau member Md Salim said.