3 former TMC MPs, including Sushmita Dev, join BJP

Kolkata, Jul 9 (PTI) Former TMC Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Prakash Chik Baraik joined the BJP in Kolkata on Thursday. The three leaders were inducted into the party in the presence of state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya welcomed the former MPs by presenting them with BJP flags during a programme attended by senior state leaders at the party's Salt Lake office. Dev, Ray and Baraik had resigned from the Rajya Sabha and quit the Trinamool Congress last month following the party's defeat in the West Bengal assembly elections. Bhattacharya said the experience of the three former parliamentarians would further strengthen the party in the state. PTI PNT SOM