Anguish among party workers as former Trinamool leaders being nominated to Upper House: BJP veteran Tathagata Roy

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran and former Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy has said that there was considerable anguish among party workers over nomination of former Trinamool Congress leaders by the party to the Upper House. The remarks by Mr. Roy has come after the BJP announced the candidature of former Trinamol Congress MP Rukmini Mallick alias Koel Mallick to Rajya Sabha.

“There is considerable anguish among BJP workers in West Bengal who have suffered horribly at the hands of Trinamool goons during their reign. It would be very unwise for the BJP central leadership to overlook this anguish,” Mr. Roy had posted on social media. The BJP leader said that Sukhendu Shekhar Ray, Koel Mallick, Prakash Chik Baraik, and Susmita Dev, who “were Trinamoolis till yesterday, have been sent to Rajya Sabha by BJP in preference to long-time BJP workers”.

While emphasising that he was retired and staying in the United States, the former West Bengal BJP president “saying this as a Swayamsevak and a BJP worker who has worked for the Sangh and the party for more than 35 years against very considerable odds”.

A day after the BJP announced candidature of former Trinamool Congress MP Rukmini Mallick alias Koel Mallick to Rajya Sabha, the actor-turned-politician on Monday formally joined the saffron party.

Ms. Mallick was handed over the party flag at the Salt Lake office by State general secretary Shashi Agnihotri. Hours after joining the BJP, she filed her nomination papers for the Upper House in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in presence of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and State BJP president.

Ms. Mallick was elected to the Upper House by Trinamool Congress in April this year. On July 16, 2026, the actor-turned-politician submitted her resignation to Vice President and chairman of the Upper House C P Radhakrishnan. She is the fourth Trinamool Congress MP who has been nominated to Rajya Sabha by the BJP, after resigning from the Upper House.

New definition of Trinamoolisation of the BJP

The concerns expressed by the BJP leader Tathgata Roy was in line with what several insiders in the party has been describing as “Trinamoolisation of the BJP” that the party was accommodating those who fault the BJP before the party came to power in West Bemgal.

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, while reiterating that there will be no “Trinamoolisation of the BJP”, tried to give a different definition of the phenomenon and said that it means how the government is functioning and not the party. “We cannot say everything publicly but for us party is above individual and country is above party,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Over the past five years, the BJP has nominated only two of its party veterans Samik Bhattacharya and Rahul Sinha to the Rajya Sabha, while four of former Trinamool Congress MPs have made it to the Upper House. The party had in 2023 nominated Nagendra Roy alias Ananta Maharaj, to Rajya Sabha MP, who had recently courted controversy by making derogatory remarks against Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Mamata AITC spokesperson and MLA Kunal Ghosh said that as long as Mamata Banerjee was Chief Minister of the State, people like Koel Mallick were supporting her. Mr. Ghosh said that Mamata Banerjee had even nominated Koel Mallick’s father Ranjit Mallick as Sheriff of Kolkata, but the Mallick family has exposed themselves before the people of the study. Elections for 12 Rajya Sabha seats are scheduled on October 16.