Kolkata: A day after the CPI(M) Politburo decided not to give a third term in the Rajya Sabha to party general secretary Sitaram Yechury in the Rajya Sabha, Bengal state committee members will meet on Thursday to discuss the issue.
The matter will be discussed on Thursday (at the party office in Kolkata) after CPI(M) state unit sent a proposal to the central leadership to consider Yechury’s third term with the support of Congress. Recently, Yechury had clarified that he is not willing to seek a third term, which ends in August.
With the existing strength of 33 MLAs, the Left Front in West Bengal will not be able to get Yechury re-elected without the help of Congress — which agreed to support only if the candidate is Yechury.
The minimum strength required to send someone to the Upper House is 45. The Trinamool Congress has the strength of 211 MLAs to get five of its members elected. Also, the Congress with 44 MLAs will not face much problem to get its candidate elected with Left support.
Speaking to News18, CPI(M) Lok Sabha MP and Politburo member Md Salim said, “We will discuss the issue (on Yechury) in today’s meeting and before that it will be unfair for me to speculate things.”
When asked how they were planning to go ahead with the proposal to send Yechury to the Upper House, he said, “Let’s see, everything will be clear after the meeting in the evening.”
“So far, we have not taken our final stand on whether to take support from the Congress party or not,” he said.
However, state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, said, “In Bengal, we don’t have any problem in supporting Yechury ji. But the final call will be taken by our party president Sonia Gandhi ji. This matter need to be resolved on higher level.”
“Our Kerala unit does not want to take Congress’s support for Yechury’s third term. But we have requested them to reconsider the matter. We are hopeful that it will be resolved in the next Central Committee meeting,” a CPI (M) leader said.
He said, “Beside Yechury, members will also discuss progress made in Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Bandyopadhyay’s case.”
On June 2, Ritabrata was suspended from the party allegedly for leading a ‘lavish life’ and using expensive watches and electronic gadgets. A three-member inquiry commission headed by Md. Salim has been set up and they were asked to submit the report within two months.
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