Left Front finalises list for Rajya Sabha nominees from Bengal

After nearly a month-long stalemate, finally the CPI (M)-led ruling Left Front in West Bengal on Thursday arrived to a seat sharing formula for five Rajya Sabha seats for the March 26 elections.

Kolkata, Mar 13 : After nearly a month-long stalemate, finally the CPI (M)-led ruling Left Front in West Bengal on Thursday arrived to a seat sharing formula for five Rajya Sabha seats for the March 26 elections.

The issue was settled after the Forward Bloc climbed down from its stand and gave up one of the two RS seats held by the party to accommodate another Front partner CPI.

After a meeting of the Left Front, its Chairman and CPI (M) state Secretary Biman Bose said that Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata Biswas would be re-nominated by the Front Bloc, while its sitting Rajya Sabha member Barun Mukherjee, whose term ends in 2012, would submit his resignation after the March 26 elections.

Of the four seats, CPI (M) will contest in three and the FB in one while the Front will support an apolitical independent candidate for the fifth seat, Bose said.

The Forward Bloc had earlier decided to go alone in the Panchayat polls following differences with the CPI (M).

Bose said the CPI(M) had nominated party veterans Prasanta Chatterjee (Kolkata) and Tarini Roy (Cooch Behar) for the second term, while another member Khabiruddin Ahmed, who is unwell, has been replaced by party central committee member and state CITU president Shyamal Chakraborty.

ANI