A day-long drama which political pundits believed could mark the beginning of a new equation in Bengal politics ended up in an anti-climax. The ally of the last Assembly election in West Bengal, Congress and CPIM, fielded separate candidates for the sixth seat of Rajya Sabha from the state. The rift between two parties was clear. Ruling TMC government was quick to latch on to the opportunity as TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee met Congress candidate Pradip Bhattacharya and leader of Opposition Abdul Mannanon Friday as Bhattacharya went to file his nomination.
Left Front, on the other hand had pitched former Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) mayor and lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya as their candidate but by the end of the day it was found out that his nomination papers were incomplete and have been rejected.
In that case there will be no election and Congress candidate Pradip Bhattacharya will win without requiring the support of TMC. Political analysts believe it could have been a well-calculated move of the state CPIM leadership which had been asked by the party’s Central Committee to field candidate against the ally Congress. If Bikash Ranjan’s candidature had been okayed then by default Congress candidate would have required TMC support which would have brought the two closer and the division between Congress and Left Front, would have increased.
CPIM MLA Sujan Chakraborty, talking to DNA in the evening said, “We had submitted all the papers on time. Later they had told us that the additional affidavit was mandatory. We might have to contest this rejection legally.”
Earlier today, Pradip after submitting his nomination had said that Mamata had decided that the extra six votes of TMC would go in favour of Pradip. Political pundits believed this move had a huge potential to bring Congress and TMC together once again, which can be significant in the forthcoming Panchayat and Lok Sabha elections.
Bhattacharya, after meeting Mamata at the Assembly said that she has assured all support and full cooperation. “It is true that we had sought help from everyone and she assured full support. I am a candidate and should not be speaking more about it. I believe the Central committee should do the talking in this regard,” he said.
State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, however, did not like to pay too much importance to TMC support. “We have pitched out candidate. Who will lend their support and who won't is completely up to them. TMC is supporting because they don't have enough votes for another Rajya Sabha seat,” he said.
On the other hand, Left Front chairman Biman Bose announced the name of former Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya as the Left Front candidate. Shifting the blame on to Congress he said, “Congress had not thought of a joint candidate. We had. We had no idea that they would nominate Pradip Bhattacharya. We had been waiting for their communication and lost two days in the process.”
Sources within CPIM said that there had been attempts till Thursday to convince Congress leadership to nominate an independent candidate who was acceptable but since they announced Pradip Bhattacharya’s name and TMC supported him, the Left decided to field Bikash Ranjan.
After filing nomination Bikash Ranjan said that it was a fight against the religious polarisation both by TMC and BJP. “I would appeal all, even the sensible MLAs of TMC to vote for me,” he said. Mamata, however, took a dig at the Left candidate and said that Bikash Ranjan could not be a non-political candidate which the Left had said they would nominate. He had been the mayor of KMC. In reply to that Bikash Ranjan said, “She is not our advisor. Let her advise her party people. That will be better for her party.”
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