Nominated member Swapan Dasgupta resigns from Rajya Sabha seat

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 16

The Trinamool Congress appears to have got the better of the BJP in this case. Nominated member Swapan Dasgupta, who has been fielded by the BJP in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections resigned from Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

 “I have resigned from the Rajya Sabha today to commit myself totally to the fight for a better Bengal. I hope to file my nomination as BJP candidate for the Tarakeshwar Assembly seat in the next few day,” Dasgupta said a day after TMC’s Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra said he could be disqualified for filing nomination as a BJP candidate under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution. 

“Swapan Dasgupta is BJP candidate for WB polls. 10th Schedule of Constitution says nominated RS member to be disqualified if he joins any political party AFTER expiry of 6 months from oath. He was sworn in April 2016, remains unallied. Must be disqualified NOW for joining BJP,” Moitra said in a tweet on Monday. Moitra further added that Dasgupta’s candidature will not be cancelled for being a nominated member of Rajya Sabha, however, he will cease to be an MP once he files his nomination.

“Either resign RS now or be disqualified. No safety net,” she said after some BJP leaders presented counterclaims to her argument.

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On Monday, she also tweeted a screenshot of the list of nominated members from the Rajya Sabha website saying “Rajya Sabha website as of today (March 15) says Swapan Dasgupta is nominated and not formally BJP. If he files nomination as BJP candidate, he should be disqualified according to the Constitution’s 10th Schedule (Para 2 (3))”. On Tuesday, after Dasgupta sent his resignation to the Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu,

Moitra wrote saying: “Thank you Sir- we wish you well for the upcoming WB polls”.

TMC’s demand for his disqualification came after BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari alleged flaws in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nomination documents in Nandigram.  

A nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, Dasgupta is among the four MPs, including three sitting Lok Sabha MPs, the BJP has fielded in the high-stakes battle for West Bengal. They include union Minister Supriyo from Tollygunge and Nishit Pramanik and Locket Chatterjee from Dinhata and Chunchura respectively. Dasgupta is the party’s nominee for Tarakeshwar assembly segment. 

Sources, however, say some decisions, including fielding the sitting MPs, has not gone down well among those “preparing” for the seats for “months now”.

“Amid the election blitzkrieg by the top leadership, there is a certain amount of anger among cadres over the candidate’ selection, including sitting MPs like Dasgupta, Babul Supriyo and Locket Chatterjee being fielded,” said a source familiar with ground situation in the poll-bound West Bengal where the BJP is engaged in a tough fight with ruling TMC.

“BJP state leaders working and preparing the ground in several constituencies are angry over ticket’ distribution. The delay in seat announcement for later phases may be a part of the strategy but that too is causing unrest among cadres,” observers say.