Meira Kumar might contest RS seat from Bengal

KOLKATA: Meira Kumar might contest Rajya Sabha seat from Bengal. The election for six MP seats will be held on August 8, as the tenure of the present MPs will end on August 18.

The present MPs whose tenure comes to an end are Derek O'Brien, Dola Sen, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Debabrata Bandopadhyay of Trinamool and Sitaram Yechury of CPM along with Pradip Bhattacharya of Congress.

Meira Kumar recently lost the Presidential poll to Ram Nath Kovind.

Trinamool has already named five candidates. They filed their nominations on Wednesday. The five Trinamool candidates are Dola Sen, Derek O'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Santa Chettri and Manas Bhuniya.

Congress is planning to nominate Meira Kumar and Trinamool Congress is willing to support her. CPM is not renominating Yechury, and therefore Meira Kumar can sail throughly smoothly. However, if Meira Kumar is not nominated then Pradip Bhattacharya can be renominated for RS, Congress sources said.

Meanwhile, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with Sonia Gandhi during her week's trip to Delhi and Kumar's nomination is said to have been discussed.

Trinamool has dropped Debobrata Bandopadhyay and has inducted Manas Bhuniya. He was a Congress MLA. While Santa Chettri, a former GNLF MLA who has joined Trinamool was nominated in the Rajya Sabha. Trinamool with its strength in the Bengal assembly is expected to get all the five seats and the excess votes it can gift it to Congress, as Trinamool and Congress are coming closer. Thus Meira Kumar can have a smooth sail.

Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.