TMC accused of 'poaching' MLAs ahead of Rajya Sabha polls

Ahead of elections to five Rajya Sabha seats in West Bengal on Friday, the Opposition has accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of trying to poach their MLAs in a desperate measure to win the fifth seat after a Congress member said he would join the TMC and vote for it. CPI(M) politburo member and Leader of the Opposition Surya Kanta Mishra said that three Left MLAs Sunil Mondal of Forward Bloc, Dasarath Tirkey and Atanu Deb Adhikari of RSP could not be contacted. “We have been trying to get in touch with them, but have failed to establish any contact,” Mishra said. [caption id=“attachment_1378191” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The elections to the Rajya Sabha take place in four states today: PTI[/caption] CPI(M) leader Rabin Deb accused the TMC of trying to coerce Left front MLAs into voting for its candidates in tomorrow’s elections with the help of the police administration. Denying the allegation, TMC all India General Secretary Mukul Roy said that some MLAs from the opposition wanted to support the TMC “to defeat the unholy nexus of Congress and CPI(M). We are confident that we will win the four seats where we have put up candidates.” Earlier the TMC received a boost with Congress MLA Abu Naser Khan Chowdhury from Malda saying that he would join the ruling party and vote for the party candidate. TMC with 187 seats in the 294-member House could ensure victory of three candidates, filmstar Mithun Chakraborty, painter Jogen Chowdhury and industrialist KD Singh. It has fielded Ahmed Hasan for the fourth seat. In the 294-member assembly, a candidate requires 49 votes to win a seat in the upper house. TMC sources claimed that Congress member Sushil Roy would also vote for its candidate tomorrow. The TMC will face competition for the fifth seat where Congress-backed Independent AS Malihabadi is seeking election, as he is likely to get support from the Left. The Left Front which has 61 votes could ensure the victory of at least one candidate. It has fielded SFI all India general secretary Ritabrata Banerjee. Congress which has 38 seats and has also pledged its support to Maliahabadi. MLA from Malda, Abu Naser Khan Chowdhury told reporters in the presence of TMC all-India general secretary Mukul Roy and Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, “I will join Trinamool Congress tomorrow when the official announcement will be made and I will also vote for TMC candidates.” Notwithstanding Khan Chowdhury’s statement of support for the TMC candidate, the Congress said all its 38 MLAs were still with the party and would vote in favour of independent candidate AS Malihabadi. “We have already spoken to Khan Chowdhury and Sushil Roy and they said that they are with the party,” CLP leader Md Sohrab said. PTI