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Left Front faces problem over RS seat
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LOCALCORRESPONDENT on 04 March, 2008 10:39:00
 
The ruling Left Front is in a dilemma over allocation of Rajya Sabha seats to
its partners, with CPI on Tuesday demanding a safe seat and Forward Bloc saying
its general secretary Debabrata Biswas would contest the March 26 Upper House
poll.
Of the five Rajya Sabha seats from the state which would fall vacant, three are
with CPI-M and one with Forward Bloc.
The fifth seat is held by Trinamool Congress member Dinesh Trivedi who is to
retire.
At a bipartite meeting during the day with Left Front major CPI-M, CPI staked
its claim for a safe seat' this time.
Manju Kumar Majumder, secretary of the CPI state council who met CPI-M state
secretary and Front chairman Biman Bose said, "we clearly said our party wants a
sure seat which was promised eight years ago." He said the then Front chairman
Sailen Dasgupta had assured CPI in 2000 when party leader Gurudas Dasgupta had
retired, that CPI would get a seat next time. "But even after eight years, the
seat was not given to our party." The Left Front which has a strength of 235
MLAs in the 294-member state assembly, can ensure the win of only four
candidates and have some surplus votes.
If Trinamool Congress, which has only 30 seats in the house, fails to muster
the support of Congress, the fifth seat might also go to the Left Front as a
candidate needs 49 votes to win.