JOANNA Cherry is reported to be interested in entering a contest to be selected as the SNP's Holyrood candidate to unseat Ruth Davidson.
The QC, who has been prominent in the campaign to revoke Article 50, is believed to be considering standing for the Scottish Parliament in 2021 in Edinburgh Central, the constituency held by the Scottish Tory leader.
Cherry has been MP for Edinburgh South West since May 2015, and is the SNP justice and home affairs spokeswoman in the Commons.
Her interest in the seat emerged after it was reported at the weekend that the party's former deputy Angus Robertson was considering putting his name forward as a candidate there.
Robertson stood down as the SNP's deputy leader last year after losing his Westminster seat to the Tories' Douglas Ross in Moray. Since then he has launched Progress Scotland, a pro independence research group.
But The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that he hopes to go head to head in the marginal held by Davidson, who is on maternity leave.
Alyn Smith, the SNP MEP, has also been talked about as a possible candidate for the seat.
Whoever wins the SNP's nomination, the seat will be one of the most high-profile and hotly contested battles in the 2021 election.
Labour sources have raised the possibility that former Scottish leader Kezia Dugdale could also fight the seat.
Last time Dugdale was elected to Holyrood as a Labour list candidate in the Lothians.
Robertson and his wife Jennifer, a former SNP special adviser, have moved to a flat in Edinburgh as they prepare to have their first baby in June.
For the former deputy leader it is a return to his roots. He grew up in Edinburgh and attended Broughton High school.
When asked about a return to active politics he said: "While it is an honour to be linked by others to the constituency, the nomination process has not even started.
"I am totally focused on my work with my new venture Progress Scotland, and to the challenges of impending parenthood."
In the last Holyrood elections, Davidson came from fourth to first unseating the SNP in the Edinburgh Central seat. She retains a slender majority of 610 votes.
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