Cong to re-nominate Pradip Bhattacharya for Rajya Sabha

Congress will re-nominate Pradip Bhattacharya for Rajya Sabha. This was announced by AICC on Thursday afternoon. There was a rumour in the political circle in Kolkata that Meira Kumar, former Lok Sabha Speaker will be the Congress nominee in Rajya Sabha.

Though Trinamool Congress leadership refused to comment on Bhattacharya's candidature, it was learnt that Trinamool will back him.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) has put an end to the "unauthorised" alliance with Congress which was inked before the 2016 Assembly polls flouting the decision of the Politburo and Central Committee.

Later, the Politburo had issued a statement that: "The alliance was not in consonance with Central Committee's decision." Congress even decided to back Sitaram Yechury without fielding its candidate.

But the Central Committee after the two-day meeting which concluded in

Delhi recently rejected the proposal.

Thus, the party will not have any Rajya Sabha MP between 2016–22. Tapan Sen's term will end in 2018 and Ritabrata Bandyopadhyay's term will come to an end in 2020.