3 BJP RS nominees file papers

Three BJP nominees, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik, on Monday filed their nominations for the three Rajya Sabha seats from Bengal.

All three candidates were sitting Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha members but resigned their posts and left their party soon after the Bengal Assembly election results last May. The three leaders joined the BJP a couple of days ago.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari accompanied the BJP nominees to the returning officer’s enclosure after they met him in his chamber in the Assembly.

While Roy refused comments regarding his quitting the TMC and joining the BJP, saying it was not ideal for a candidate to talk when the model code was in effect. Dev, on the other hand, expressed his gratitude to the BJP leadership and offered to work for both Assam and Bengal because “I have connections in both the States.” A caste Bengali Dev is from Assam.

On alleged discontent in the BJP rank and file over nominating three leaders just after they left their party and joined the saffron outfit, Dev said she valued their grievances because “many of them sacrificed a lot for the party during their struggle against the TMC rule” and vowed to assuage their feelings. “I will try to work harder for the party and the people of Bengal… raise more issues so that I can justify my nomination,” she said.

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya refuted allegations of “Trinamoolisation” of the BJP, indicating that clean and deserving candidates from any outfit were not unwelcome in the saffron outfit, particularly in the national interest.

“Party is bigger than individual, and nation is bigger than the party… so national interest is a priority which has to be valued first,” he said.