Bengal CPI(M) proposes Yechury as RS candidate, politburo to

The CPI(M)'s West Bengal unit has proposed party general secretary Sitaram Yechury as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in the state, party sources said here on Thursday.

However, the party politburo will take the final decision on this matter.

The CPI(M)'s state unit is keen to nominate Yechury to Rajya Sabha from West Bengal with the help of the Congress and the decision to this effect was taken at a recent meeting, sources said.

CPI(M) state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra has been assigned to coordinate with the politburo to get the general secretary's name cleared from the party's highest decision-making body, the sources said.

The election to five Rajya Sabha seats in West Bengal will be held on March 26.

According to the distribution of seats in the present state assembly, the ruling Trinamool Congress is likely to win four seats, while a joint candidate of either the CPI(M)- Congress or the TMC-Congress has a chance to win the fifth one.

The BJP with just eight MLAs is not a contender.

Since the Lok Sabha polls debacle last year, both the parties have been unitedly fighting against the TMC and the BJP in the state.

Yechury had an excellent track record as a member of the Upper House of Parliament between 2005 and 2017, and the party is "eager to nominate him" in the Rajya Sabha elections to be held next month, state CPI(M) sources said.

In 2017, his name had cropped up for re-election. The then Congress president Rahul Gandhi was also keen on supporting his nomination from West Bengal. But the CPI(M) leadership had turned down the offer, citing party rules that no member could be nominated three times in a row for Rajya Sabha.

The rule of not allowing anyone to be a member of Rajya Sabha beyond two consecutive terms will not apply now as Yechury has got a break since 2017.

The CPI(M) West Bengal unit presently does not have any representation in either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. This has happened for the first time since the party's inception in 1964.