Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is retaining three previous palms, however has picked three recent faces for the seven Rajya Sabha seats that can fall vacant subsequent month in West Bengal.
The Bharatiya Janata Celebration will contest the seventh seat on 24 July — ballot day for the Higher Home.
Whereas West Bengal’s ruling celebration has retained legislators Derek O’Brien, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy and Dola Sen, the three new faces are Saket Gokhale, Prakash Chik Baraik and Samirul Islam.
Newcomer and Proper to Info (RTI) activist Saket Gokhale joined the celebration in August final yr.
In Might 2023, Saket Gokhale was granted bail in a case underneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA) filed by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged crowd-funding and misappropriation of funds. Senior TMC chief Derek’O’Brien had rallied behind him with the celebration’s help to safe bail for his celebration colleague.
In selecting Alipurduar district president Prakash Chik Baraik – additionally a member of the Scheduled Tribe group — the celebration has signalled that North Bengal stays underneath focus. Baraik helped TMC acquire floor within the 2021 polls from the higher district, which is a BJP bastion.
By the way, Alipurduar’s BJP MLA Suman Kanjilal jumped ship to the TMC this February, turning into the central celebration’s sixth legislator to take action.
The third, Samirul Islam, is a social activist and assistant professor at a Howrah Faculty and president of the Bangla Sanskriti Mancha. He would be the celebration’s younger minority face within the Rajya Sabha.
Islam informed ThePrint: “Mamata Banerjee has given me a giant duty. I’ll take the problems of Bengal to the Rajya Sabha and be the voice of the folks. It’s a really massive process and I’ll begin by studying the Structure in depth.”
Of the Trinamool’s seven seats that can fall vacant, the phrases of six — O’Brien, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Dola Sen, Shanta Chetri, Sushmita Dev and Congress’ Pradeep Bhattachrya — are ending. The seventh celebration chief, Goa’s Luizinho Faleiro, resigned from the Rajya Sabha in April this yr.
All eyes are actually on who the BJP nominates as this would be the first time the celebration will get a Rajya Sabha consultant from West Bengal. The struggle for the seventh seat will happen on 24 July, Rajya Sabha’s election day. Three extra seats from Gujarat are additionally falling vacant, together with that of Overseas Minister S. Jaishankar.
Additionally learn: Panchayat elections: Repolling underway in over 600 cubicles throughout 19 districts of West Bengal
