Hours after joining BJP, three ex-TMC MPs named RS nominees from Bengal

Kolkata, Jul 9 (PTI) Three former TMC Rajya Sabha MPs, including Sushmita Dev and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, joined the BJP on Thursday and, within hours, were named the saffron party's candidates for the Rajya Sabha bypolls from West Bengal, underlining both their political rehabilitation and the party's calibrated shift in inducting leaders from the erstwhile ruling dispensation. The BJP's Central Election Committee announced the names of Dev, Ray and Prakash Chik Baraik as its nominees for the July 24 Rajya Sabha bypolls, days after the Election Commission notified elections to the three Upper House seats vacated following their resignations from the TMC and the Rajya Sabha last month. The development marked the first major induction of former TMC leaders into the BJP since it swept the Assembly polls and assumed power in the state, signalling that the party's post-election embargo on Trinamool entrants would not extend to leaders it considers politically credible and free from corruption taint. Earlier this evening, state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya inducted the trio into the party at its Salt Lake headquarters. Asked then whether they would be fielded in the Rajya Sabha bypolls, Bhattacharya had smiled and replied, "Let the speculations continue." The suspense ended in a few hours when the BJP central leadership formally cleared their candidature. The political significance of Thursday's developments lay as much in who joined as in why the BJP accepted them. Ever since the BJP's assembly election victory, the party leadership, including Bhattacharya, had repeatedly maintained that its doors were closed to leaders from the TMC, seeking to draw a sharp distinction with what it had often criticised as a culture of political defections. Bhattacharya, however, described Thursday's induction as an "exceptional" case rather than a departure from that policy. "We had said the doors are closed for Trinamool leaders. We stand by that. But those who did not indulge in corruption, did not oppress people, did not sell jobs or snatch away people's rights were always welcome to join us in the fight against the TMC and rebuild Bengal," he said. Invoking the maxim that "the exception proves the rule", he said the BJP had always been open to leaders who had remained "untainted" despite serving in the TMC. The formulation echoed his earlier remarks on accommodating "good" or "untainted" Trinamool leaders, but had triggered unease within the BJP and drawn criticism from senior leader and minister Dilip Ghosh. The three inductees broadly fit that political template. Ray, who represented the TMC in the Rajya Sabha since 2012, earned a reputation as one of the party's legal and parliamentary minds rather than a mass leader. During the RG Kar controversy, he publicly sought accountability from his own party, inviting sharp backlash from within the TMC. Though he later withdrew some social media posts, citing threats to his family, the episode marked his growing estrangement from the party leadership. Explaining his decision to switch sides, Ray said he had been waiting for the "right moment". "I have been in politics for 59 years. I fought the CPI(M) and the Naxalites. During the RG Kar incident, I made my stand clear. Thereafter, I faced tremendous pressure and threats, including threats that my daughter could be kidnapped," he alleged, claiming he had become convinced there was no future in continuing with the TMC. Dev, a former Congress Lok Sabha MP from Assam who later headed the All India Mahila Congress before joining the TMC in 2021, also attacked her former party over corruption. "I realised only after joining the TMC how unbelievable the extent of corruption could be. My critics may point to many shortcomings, but nobody can say I was associated with corruption," she said. Taking a swipe at TMC MP Mahua Moitra, Dev remarked that "her biggest problem is that no one wants to take her into their party". Explaining why she formally joined the BJP in Kolkata despite being based in Assam, Dev said the decision had been taken by the party leadership. "I could have enrolled digitally from home. But the leadership decided I should join here. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told me I should respect the people of Bengal because they elected me to the Rajya Sabha twice," she said. She also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance model for her decision, saying successive BJP victories in West Bengal, Assam, Odisha and Tripura reflected growing public faith in his leadership. Bhattacharya said Dev would work for the BJP at the national level. Baraik, who entered the Rajya Sabha in 2023 and is known for his organisational work among tea garden workers in north Bengal, completed the trio. Seeking to turn the page on their political past, Bhattacharya said, "Everyone has a past. Their only identity now is that they are BJP workers." The TMC sought to play down the development. Senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said Ray had been repeatedly honoured by Mamata Banerjee despite never having been elected an MLA or MP before joining the party. "People are watching everything. They did not leave when Mamata Banerjee was the chief minister. They left only after the election," Ghosh said. With the BJP commanding a comfortable majority in the Assembly, the election of Dev, Ray and Baraik to the Rajya Sabha is now widely seen as a formality, capping a dramatic political turnaround that saw them resign from the TMC, join the BJP and secure nominations to return to the Upper House within weeks. PTI PNT NN