Gupta, Bhattacharya nominated for Rajya Sabha and assembly seats

The Trinamool Congress nominated Manish Gupta and Chandrima Bhattacharya for Rajya Sabha and Assembly seats respectively in a meeting headed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her residence on Wednesday.

They were nominated unanimously by the core committee of the party for the respective seats which fell vacant owing to the resignation of its incumbents.

Gupta who was the state's Home and Chief Secretary during Left Front regime shot to fame after he defeated former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee from Jadavpur Assembly seat in 2011. Following this, he became Power Minister in Banerjee's first Cabinet (2011-16). He was defeated by Sujan Chakraborty of CPI(M) in 2016 owing to party infighting. The former top bureaucrat will be accommodated in the seat vacated by actor Mithun Chakraborty.

The Contai South Assembly seat fell vacant after Dibyendu Adhikari, sitting MLA resigned and contested from Tamluk Lok Sabha seat which fell vacant after his elder brother Suvendu resigned. Suvendu is presently the state Transport Minister.

"Banerjee lambasted her party leaders on the issue of infighting. She pulled up Dr. Shantanu Sen and Dr. Nirmal Majhi and urged them to mend fences. Without naming Madan Mitra she stated that few leaders had taken up issues like inflated bills with private hospital authorities. Also, she said that she would ask private hospitals to fall in line," said sources.

Following the election results, Trinamool Congress registered a landslide victory by winning 211 out of 294 seats. Banerjee seemed unhappy as eight of her ministers faced defeat in the election. After this, she assured that both Gupta and Bhattacharya would be rehabilitated owing to their effectiveness.

Partha Chatterjee, Secretary General of Trinamool Congress said, "The next meeting of the core committee would be held on March 29."