The BJP has fielded former Trinamool Congress MPs Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Prakash Chik Baraik for the July 24 Rajya Sabha bypolls in West Bengal, hours after they joined the saffron party in Kolkata on Thursday.
The names of the three leaders, who were inducted into the party in the presence of state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya at the party’s Salt Lake office, were announced by the BJP’s Central Election Committee on Thursday night.
They had resigned from both TMC and Rajya Sabha last month.
Sukhendu Sekhar Ray was the first to resign. His Rajya Sabha tenure was to end in September 2028. After resigning Ray had blamed TMC’s electoral defeat on poor governance, corruption and massive disconnect between the ground realities and party leadership.
Sushmita Dev, who was the next to quit had attributed her decision to political and personal reasons. Her tenure was due till April 2030. She had said that her roots and area of work are in Assam and that she wanted to work in her homestate, Assam. Prakash Chik Baraik had resigned after Dev and Ray.
The bypolls for the three seats are scheduled for July 24.
Welcoming the three leaders with BJP flags, Samik Bhattacharya said their experience will strengthen BJP in Bengal. He said the party’s goal is overall development of Bengal through coordination between the Central and state governments.
“The governments that the people of this state have witnessed over the last 50 years have all been party-centric, be it the Left Front or the TMC. We hope to form the government in West Bengal. We seek the state’s holistic development. Despite Bengal possessing everything, we have often found ourselves standing before other states with a begging bowl. We aim to build a new state through the coordination of both the central and state governments,” Bhattacharya said.
BJP fields Sushmita Dev for RS polls from West Bengal
