Trinamool won’t back Congress for Rajya Sabha polls

The Trinamool Congress has decided not to support the Congress nominee in West Bengal for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya Tuesday said.

“As far as I know, the Trinamool has decided not to support our candidate. I don’t know what will happen later on,” Bhattacharya told IANS.

“I have placed the list of probable candidates of the Congress before Pranabda (union finance minister Praanb Mukherjee) and Shakeelji (Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed).”

On March 30, five Rajya Sabha members from the state would be elected to fill up vacancies arising on April 2.

According to the arithmetic in the assembly, Trinamool with 185 seats is in a comfortable position to send three members to the upper house of parliament. The Left Front with 61 members can win one seat.

A candidate needs 49 votes to cross the finishing line in the Rajya Sabha race in West Bengal.

The Congress has 42 assembly members. It is also banking on the support of one independent.

The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) has four seats, including an independent, and SUCI-C has one member. The GJM is likely to go with the Trinamool while the SUCI-C is yet to spell out its stand.

The Congress thus needs six surplus votes from either the Trinamool or the Left to send its candidate to the upper house.

Going by the coalition dharma, the Congress seems unlikely to seek support from the Left Front.

Shakeel Ahmed declined to confirm whether Trinamool would support the Congress.