New Delhi: BJP will not field its candidate in the upcoming by-election to a Rajya Sabha seat in Bengal to be held on August 9. BJP MLA from Nandigram and Leader of Opposition in Bengal Legislative Assembly Suvendu Adhikari announced this. It is worth mentioning that BJP had earlier announced to contest this seat but now the decision has been changed considering the chances of victory are negligible.
The Rajya Sabha seat from Bengal had fallen vacant after the resignation of Dinesh Trivedi, who left Trinamool and joined the BJP ahead of the assembly elections. Trinamool Congress has fielded former Prasar Bharati CEO Jawahar Sarkar as its candidate. He has also submitted his nomination papers by going to the assembly on Wednesday. According to the data, Jawahar Sarkar’s going to the Rajya Sabha is believed to be fixed because this seat was with the Trinamool.
Jawahar Sarkar is considered a critic of the Modi government. It is believed that in view of this, Mamta, the arch-rival of the Modi government and BJP, has made a big bet by nominating her to the Rajya Sabha. After his name was announced as the Trinamool candidate, Jawahar Sarkar had said that he would continue the fight against the monotheism and communalism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He had resigned as CEO of Prasar Bharati before his term ended because he could not accept Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s communalism, unity and economic disorder in the country. They are accepting the nomination because through this they will be able to fight against human rights violations and communalism. There was speculation that Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee may send senior leader and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, who had joined the party ahead of the elections, to the Rajya Sabha from this seat. Apart from Sinha, Mukul Roy’s name was also discussed but Trinamool surprised everyone by announcing the name of former bureaucrat Jawahar Sarkar.
(With agency inputs)
