Hours after switching to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), three Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MPs, Sukhendu Shekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev, and Prakash Chik Baraik, were fielded as candidates for the Upper
House by-elections. The by-elections were necessitated because the leaders had vacated the seats before the shift.
The three TMC MPs had resigned from the party weeks ago amid mounting rebellion against the leadership in the aftermath of a bruising defeat in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly Election.
The BJP’s Central Election Committee announced their names for the July 24 Rajya Sabha bypolls after the three leaders joined the party at its Salt Lake office in the presence of West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya and other senior leaders.
#WATCH | Kolkata, West Bengal: Former TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev arrives at the BJP Party Office, Salt Lake pic.twitter.com/tqErxMBOob
— ANI (@ANI) July 9, 2026
‘Those Who Did Not Oppress People…’
While Bhattacharya asserted that the BJP had kept its doors closed to the TMC leaders, he highlighted an exception.
“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 Trinamool and rebuild Bengal,” he said, according to PTI.
Sukhendu Shekhar Ray, who served as TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP since 2012, had questioned the party’s leadership after the RG Kar incident –– when a 31-year-old trainee doctor was brutally raped and murdered inside the seminar hall of the college in August, 2024.
Sushmita Dev, the TMC’s Lok Sabha MP from Assam, had turned against the high command, citing corruption within the outfit.
Prakash Chik Baraik, who entered the Rajya Sabha in 2023, also jumped ship to the BJP on Thursday evening.
How Rebellion Unfolded In TMC
The Trinamool faced an existential crisis after the conclusion of the West Bengal Assembly polls when a large group of MLAs broke away under the leadership of expelled legislator Ritabrata Banerjee and backed him for the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state assembly.
Soon afterwards, a group of the Trinamool’s MPs –– led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar –– wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, declaring support for the BJP-led NDA at the Centre. They also sought separate seating arrangements in Parliament.
