Mamata backs Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi for RS

He was Bengal’s lawyer in Narada scam

Mamata Banerjee. File photo.

In a significant development, Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced her party’s support for the Congress’ Rajya Sabha nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

This came hours after State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury named Mr. Singhvi as the party’s nominee.

Political realignment

This also signals a fresh political alignment, as the Congress and the Left Front were in talks for fielding a joint non-political candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat.

Mr Singhvi represented the West Bengal government in the Narada scam and also when the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung approached the Supreme Court over cases lodged against him by the State government.

“We are supporting him because he has worked with us for the greater interest of the State,” Ms. Banerjee said.

TMC nominees

Ms Banerjee also announced the names of four party candidates for Rajya Sabha seats. While Md. Nadimul Haque, journalist with an Urdu Daily will get his second term, three lesser known TMC leaders have also been nominated to the Upper House.

The three nominees are Shanatnu Sen, TMC councillor of ward number 3 of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, who lost the 2016 Assembly polls from Kandi; former MLA Abir Ranjan Biswas, who also lost in 2016 from Ranghat Dakshin, and Subhasish Chakraborty, a lawyer who has been the election agent for Ms. Banerjee on a number of occasions.

The TMC has the numbers to elect four candidates to the Upper House and can extend support to Congress nominee as the party lacks the numbers.

Left fields Rabin Deb

Despite not having enough MLAs to send a member to the Rajya Sabha, the Left Front has which does not have support of enough MLAs to nominate a member to the Upper House fielded senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Rabin Deb for the fifth seat.