If Congress and Left announce joint candidate, TMC is unlikely to field anyone.
The TMC leadership in West Bengal is keenly watching the developments in the opposition camp and is planning to field a sixth candidate in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, if Congress and CPI(M) contest separately.
"Five of our candidates will win, that is for sure. But, we will wait and watch as to what the opposition Congress and CPI(M) does with the sixth seat. "If they jointly field a candidate, we may not field anybody for the sixth seat. But, if they fight separately, we will field our own candidate for the sixth seat. And if the opposition remains divided, there is every chance that our candidate will win," a senior Trinamool Congress leader said on condition of anonymity.
Six Rajya Sabha seats from the state will go to polls in August. Out of the six, four are held by TMC, one by CPI(M) and one by the Congress.
With the increased strength after the 2016 Assembly polls, TMC is in a position to be sent five MPs, and Congress, the second largest party, will be able to elect one MP on their own strength. With the present strength of the Assembly and the number of Rajya Sabha seats going to polls, a candidate will need around 43 votes to get elected to the upper house of the Parliament. The CPI(M)-led Left Front has 32 MLAs in the Assembly.
The Congress has 44 MLAs and the ruling TMC has 211 members.
Although five Congress MLAs and one Left MLA have switched over to TMC, but are yet to resign as MLAs of their parent parties. Only Manas Bhunia, a Congress MLA, has resigned today to contest the Rajya Sabha polls as a TMC candidate. The Congress is yet to take a call on whether they will field a candidate of their own or will field someone as an alliance candidate with the Left Front. The CPI(M) too is in a dilemma as they are yet to decide whether to give party general secretary Sitaram Yechury a third term as an MP. Yechury is presently a Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal and his tenure will also end on August. The state Congress leadership is keen on extending support to CPI(M), provided Yechury is the Left's choice as a candidate.
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