Yechuri, Karat file nominations for RS seats from WB

In a bid to enter the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal, Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo members Sitaram Yechuri and Brinda Karat on Monday filed their nominations for the upcoming election to the Upper House.

The CPI-M has also renominated All India Confederation of Indian Trade Unions general secretary Chittabrata Mazumdar.

Left Front constituent Revolutionary Socialist Party has renominated Abani Roy.

Eminent economist and National Commission for Enterprises in the Working Sector chairman Arjun Sengupta, picked by the Left Front as an independent and backed by the Congress, also filed his papers.

Mohun Bagan club president and editor of a leading Bengali daily, Swapan Sadhan Bose, filed his nomination as Trinamool Congress candidate on Saturday.

There are six vacancies in the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal. Elections will be held on July 14.

"The party's decision to nominate Brinda Karat and me was prompted by its efforts to ensure a better co-ordination between the legislature and the party," Yechuri told newsmen.

Asked if the CPI-M decision to send him and Karat to the Rajya Sabha was part of a strategy to be more vocal against the United Progressive Alliance government's policies in view of the assembly elections next year in West Bengal and Kerala, Yechuri said: "We are already vocal against the policies which are against the interests of the people." 

"The current political reality in the country is such that no central government can be run without the support of the Left parties. The CPI-M wants to take advantage of the situation so that the cause of the common people can be served," he said.

Brinda Karat said: "My task will be to raise all issues concerning women, including the Women's Reservation Bill, besides the economic issues concerning the people."