Trinamool Congress picks journalist Sagarika Ghose among 4 Rajya Sabha nominees

New Delhi, February 11

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday announced the names of journalist Sagarika Ghose, party leader Sushmita Dev and two others for Rajya Sabha polls from the state. Elections to five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal will be held on February 27.

Besides Ghose and Dev, the TMC, in a post on X, announced the names of Mamata Bala Thakur and Nadimul Haque as party candidates and extended wishes to them. On Ghose’s nomination, BJP IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya posted on X, “Rajdeep Sardesai’s efforts have been rewarded. But his credibility as a journalist is so low that even a regional outfit like the TMC chose to nominate his wife to the Rajya Sabha instead of him.” Ghose is the daughter of 1960-batch IAS office Bhaskar Ghose, who was removed from his post of DG, Doordarshan, by Rajiv Gandhi in the late 1980s.

Haque is a two-time RS MP. Former Congress leader Sushmita Dev, who joined the TMC in 2021, is party’s national spokesperson and looks after its affairs in Assam.

Former Lok Sabha MP and Matua leader Thakur was defeated in the Matua-dominated Bongaon seat by BJP’s Shantanu Thakur, a relative, in 2019. With the TMC enjoying a comfortable majority of 217 in the 294-member Assembly, including the support of six BJP MLAs who defected to the ruling party but are yet to resign, the party is likely to dominate the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.