Hours After Switching Sides, Three Former TMC MPs Get BJP RS Tickets

In a dramatic political turnaround, three former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha members, Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Prakash Chik Baraik , joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday and were, within hours, announced as the party's candidates for the July 24 Rajya Sabha bypolls from West Bengal.

The BJP's Central Election Committee cleared the trio's candidature shortly after they were formally inducted into the party by state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya at the party headquarters in Salt Lake. The bypolls were necessitated after the three leaders resigned from both the Rajya Sabha and the TMC last month.

The development is being viewed as the BJP's first major induction of former TMC leaders since the party formed the government in West Bengal. It also signals a calibrated shift in the party's stance on accepting leaders from the Trinamool Congress. While BJP leaders had repeatedly maintained that the party's doors were closed to TMC defectors, Bhattacharya described the latest inductions as an "exceptional" case.

He said the BJP remained open to individuals who had not been associated with corruption, oppression, job scams or the denial of people's rights, and added that the trio would now be known simply as BJP workers.

Among the new entrants, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray , a Rajya Sabha member since 2012, had increasingly distanced himself from the TMC leadership following the RG Kar hospital controversy , during which he publicly sought accountability within his own party. Explaining his decision, Ray said he had faced immense pressure and threats and believed there was no future for him in the TMC.

Sushmita Dev , who was previously a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Assam before joining the TMC in 2021, said she became disillusioned with what she described as widespread corruption within the party. She also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance and the BJP's electoral successes in several eastern states for influencing her decision to switch sides.

Prakash Chik Baraik , known for his organisational work among tea garden workers in north Bengal, completed the BJP's list of candidates.

The TMC sought to downplay the defections. Senior party leader Kunal Ghosh said the leaders had remained in the party while Mamata Banerjee was in power and chose to leave only after the Assembly election results.

With the BJP enjoying a comfortable majority in the West Bengal Assembly, the election of Dev, Ray and Baraik to the Rajya Sabha is widely considered a mere formality, bringing to a close a swift political journey from resignation to induction and renomination within a matter of weeks.