Will Congress' Rajya Sabha seat appeal more to Sourav Ganguly?

KOLKATA: The suspense over Sourav Ganguly joining politics is growing. Already the former Indian cricket captain has an offer from BJP to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections . Now, Congress is trying to upstage BJP by offering Dada a Rajya Sabha seat.

Speculation about Sourav entering the upper House of Parliament grew on Sunday when state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya dropped in at his Behala residence. Although Bhattacharya insisted it was only a “courtesy call” , the buzz has refused to die down.

What’s spurring it is the fact that five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal fall vacant on April 2. While Trinamool Congress is likely to get three, Congress will get one and the fifth one can go to these two parties if they jointly sponsor a nominee .

It’s in this last category that Sourav fits in perfectly. There’s precedence, too, of Congress and TMC joining hands to push through a joint candidate. Two days back, Sourav disclosed that he has had a conversation with the BJP West Bengal incharge, Varun Gandhi. Varun said it was an informal discussion about the “role of sportsperson like him in nationbuilding” . However, state BJP president Rahul Sinha was more forthcoming . He said, “He (Varun Gandhi) gave him the offer. Sourav neither said ‘yes’ nor ‘no’ . He said he will think it over.”

Sourav has so far been close to the Left and going over to the BJP will, indeed , be a 360-degree turn. In fact, soon after the BJP offer, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury was quoted as saying , “Ganguly has been with the Left. I hope he will remain so.”

The man at the centre of all the buzz, chose to keep the speculation alive. “Yes, I have got it. I have not decided anything,” he was quoted as saying on the sidelines of an event in Kolkata on Sunday.