The Trinamul Congress on Friday backed former MLA Dinesh Bajaj as an Independent for the Rajya Sabha polls in an eleventh-hour change in the game plan for the fifth vacancy from Bengal, leaving him sprinting through the Assembly corridor to file his nomination with just a minute to spare.
Bajaj’s entry will force an election on March 26 as six candidates will contest the five seats from the state.
The twist in the tale, which many felt was indicative of Mamata Banerjee’s unwillingness to allow Left-Congress consensus candidate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya to sail through without a contest, came in the aftermath of the failure of purported attempts to foist a former Lok Sabha Speaker as the fifth candidate with the help of a section of the state Congress leadership.
“As the Left-Congress remained unmoved on Bikash, she (Mamata) decided against letting the fifth vacancy go without a contest. Over the past couple of days, there had been several attempts, some in consultation with sections of the Congress, to field a fifth candidate acceptable to both Trinamul and the Congress,” said a Trinamul source.
According to the source, the chief minister does not want Bhattacharyya — a senior advocate and former Calcutta mayor — to have it easy.
Although leader of the Opposition Abdul Mannan, a Congress veteran, and other seniors in the party condemned Bajaj’s nomination, sources said there had been multiple rounds of back-channel communications with Trinamul on a possible non-Left candidate for the fifth vacancy.
“A former Speaker’s name was in contention, but that did not work out as the majority of state Congress leaders were averse to betraying the Left. Around 1pm, Dinesh was told to file his nomination, but as an Independent. There was a mad scramble after that,” said the source.
The decision to field Bajaj as an Independent appeared to have been taken to make him palatable to all parties, a Trinamul leader said.
Each Rajya Sabha seat in Bengal is won on the basis of 49 first-preference votes in the 293-seat Assembly. Trinamul is sure to win four — with 196 first-preference votes — with an official remaining tally of 11 MLAs and support from 18 defectors from the Left and the Congress. The Left and the Congress have a combined strength of 51. The BJP has an official strength of six and the support of nine defectors. Also, there are two Gorkha Janmukti Morcha MLAs.
“Realistically speaking, if there is no drastic betrayal from the Left-Congress camp, Bikash will make it,” a Trinamul leader said.
Asked about his chances, Bajaj — a one-term MLA from Jorasanko — said he was “confident” of victory. “Everybody knows me and loves me. I am in this to win,” he said.
Bhattacharyya alleged a Trinamul-BJP “setting”.
“It is clear as daylight that Trinamul is banking on BJP votes for this new candidate to win…. I would appeal to all to exercise better judgement,” said the CPM leader.
A section of the state BJP leadership has no inhibition in backing Bajaj. Others, however, find it problematic to vote for a Trinamul leader “posing as” an Independent.
Sayantan Basu, a state general secretary of the BJP, said: “We can vote for Bajaj if the high command allows.” State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, however, said his party would not participate in the voting.
