Move to secure RS berth for Pranab’s daughter Sharmistha

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 1

Amid indications that the CPM is averse to taking the support of Congress in securing a seat in the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal, there is a move to build consensus on the candidature of Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of President Pranab Mukherjee, against the vacancy.

While six seats will fall vacant on August 18 from the state, the Congress realistically has a chance of getting only one candidate that too with support of another party that has votes. Its original plan to extend support to CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury goes against the Left party norm of not giving more than two terms to anyone.

There were some attempts by people close to Yechury to get the norms relaxed, considering the CPM general secretary is coordinating opposition moves inside Parliament, but the Politburo nixed the idea.

The main opposition came from the members of Kerala in the Politburo who were unhappy even with the somewhat loose understanding with the Congress in the state elections that Mamata Banerjee’s TMC swept. The Left parties and the Congress remain traditional opponents in the state as well as Kerala.

In the changed circumstances, the Congress can get its candidate in only with the help of surplus votes from the TMC kitty, which can be transferred. This is where the party see utility of Sharmistha. Though Delhi-bred and active in the state unit of the Congress, she can be fielded from West Bengal by virtue of her lineage from the state. The TMC chief has good equation with the President. It also helps the TMC leader make Congress remain on her side and thereby deal with a situation when some Congress legislators are attempting to cross over to TMC.