The CPI(M)’s beleaguered boss, Prakash Karat, is trying hard to get his wife Brinda renominated to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal. This is no longer an easy task: the once-dominant Left Front has just 62 members in the new West Bengal Assembly, and so it can elect only one Rajya Sabha MP from the state. Four Left MPs, including Ms Karat, will see their terms in the Upper House expire in August this year. The others are Sitaram Yechury and Mohammed Amin of the CPI(M) and Abani Roy of the Revolutionary Socialist Party.
Given that Mr Yechury is the CPI(M)’s parliamentary party leader, it might be expected that the party would prefer to pick him for the lone West Bengal seat. There is indeed a lot of pressure on Mr Karat to renominate Mr Yechury, but sources said he was lobbying hard with his “loyalists” to secure his wife the seat, for which he is now playing the “woman card”.
A source confirmed that the “toss-up will be between Ms Karat and Mr Yechury”, with Mr Amin and Mr Abani Roy expected to be dumped. A CPI(M) central committee member told this newspaper: “For both tactical and political survival, Karat wants the seat to go to his wife.” Incidentally Ms Karat, like Mr Yechury and Mr Amin, is a member of the party’s highest decision-making bodies, the politburo and the central committee.
The CPI(M) now has 15 members in the Upper House and holds fourth position in the House in terms of party strength, after the Congress, the BJP and BSP.
In West Bengal, in a House of 294, a party needs the support of 42 MLAs to elect one Rajya Sabha member. Of the Left Front’s 62 seats, 40 are from the CPI(M).
Sources said Mr Karat had discussed the matter with West Bengal state party secretary Biman Bose, but a majority of the state unit was vehemently opposed to allowing the “Karat clan” to have their own way following the electoral debacle.
The party general secretary, sensing that it might be tough to get his wife re-elected to Parliament from West Bengal given the prevailing mood, has opened a second channel through his trusted aide, Kerala state secretary Pinyari Vijayan. Despite Mr Vijayan being chargesheeted by the CBI in the `370-crore SNC Lavalin scam, Mr Karat has always backed him to the hilt. Mr Vijayan might well repay the favour when Rajya Sabha elections come up in Kerala in April next year. The CPI(M) now has four Rajya Sabha MPs from Kerala. “In a bid to please his boss, Vijayan could help get Brinda nominated from Kerala,” a party leader said.
The CPI(M), meanwhile, will face a similar blow in April 2012, when the terms of three other Rajya Sabha MPs end: Mainul Hassan, Tapan Kumar Sen and Saman Pathak. “Thanks to Karat, the CPI(M) is now in a real red zone,” the party leader added.