Kolkata:
Former TMC Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Prakash Chik Baraik joined the BJP on Thursday, days after the Election Commission announced bypolls to the three Upper House seats vacated by them, fuelling speculation over their possible return to Parliament on tickets by the ruling party.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya welcomed them to the party at its West Bengal headquarters in Salt Lake.
Asked whether the trio would be the BJP’s nominees for the Rajya Sabha bypolls on July 24, Bhattacharya declined to give a direct answer.
“Let the discussions continue,” he said with a smile.
The induction also marked a notable shift from the BJP’s post-Assembly poll position on admitting Trinamool leaders into the party, with Bhattacharya describing the move as an “exceptional” case rather than a policy change.
“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,” he said.
Calling the induction “an exception that proves the rule”, Bhattacharya said the experience of the three former parliamentarians would strengthen the BJP in West Bengal.
His remarks echoed his earlier stand that the BJP remained open to accommodating “untainted” leaders from the ruling party, a position that had drawn criticism from within the party, including from senior leader Dilip Ghosh.
Dev, who had joined the TMC in 2021 after leaving the Congress, used the occasion to attack 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.
Ray also criticised the TMC over corruption, while Bhattacharya sought to downplay their political past.
“Everyone has a past. Their only identity now is that they are BJP workers,” he said.
Responding to a question on why she formally joined the BJP in Kolkata despite being based in Assam, Dev said the decision was 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 also told me I should respect the people of Bengal because they elected me to the Rajya Sabha twice,” she said.
Bhattacharya said Dev would work for the BJP across the country.
Dev, Ray and Baraik had resigned from the Rajya Sabha and quit the Trinamool Congress last month following the party’s defeat in the Assembly elections, leading to bypolls for the three vacant Upper House seats.
With the BJP expected to have the numbers to win all three Rajya Sabha seats, the development intensified speculation that the former TMC MPs could return to the Upper House on ticket by the ruling party.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
