BJP faces internal dissent over Rajya Sabha ticket to ex-TMC MP Koel Mallick

Kolkata: A day after drawing flak from the opposition parties in West Bengal for nominating a fourth Trinamul Congress turncoat Koel Mallick for a Rajya Sabha seat, BJP has stumbled upon a fresh internal dissent for importing a face from outside as the actor-turned-politician joined the party and filed her nomination as a candidate at the state assembly on Monday.

The first salvo came from BJP veteran and former Tripura governor Tathagata Roy who posted on X-handle on Sunday evening, "Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Koel Mallik, Prakash Chik Baraik, and Susmita Deb, who were Trinamoolis till yesterday, have been sent to Rajya Sabha by BJP in preference to longtime BJP workers. I am currently in US, completely retired and have just received this news."

In an oblique reference to his RSS background, he also stated, "There is considerable anguish among BJP workers in West Bengal who have suffered horribly at the hands of Trinamooli goons during their reign.

It would be very unwise for the BJP central leadership to overlook this anguish.

I am 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."

Mr Roy then tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union home minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin and state party chief Samik Bhattacharya in his post. His outburst raised eyebrows within the party immediately.

On Monday, Ms Mallick was welcomed to BJP by its state general secretary Shashi Agnihotri.

She later submitted her nomination as BJP RS candidate at the Assembly in presence of Mr Bhattacharya and chief minister Suvendu Adhikari.

The CM later expressed his total confidence in a social media post about Ms Mallick's victory and congratulated her with "advance greetings".

In the afternoon, another BJP leader Anupam Hazra however joined Mr Roy in taking a dig at their party and made a sarcastic post in the social media about the actor, sharing a video of her new innings.

He wrote jokingly, "One of the nationalist fighting mass leaders of the country Shrimati Koel Mallick was inducted into BJP in the greater interest of the country."

Asked about the RS ticket by BJP to yet another TMC turncoat, Mr Bhattacharya, who is also a member of the upper house, however argued at a presser that Ms Mallick's previous party has ceased to exist after breaking into two factions and losing its stake on its symbol and bank accounts.

He also claimed, "I can still affirm that there will be no Trinamulisation of BJP.

You earlier debated a lot whether those who were inducted were Bhalo (good) TMC or not.

But I say they are not Kalo (black/tainted). All words cannot be spoken out.

It is however true that the candidate announcement happened before induction.

Since we can't find any opposition, whatever is being built and broken is by BJP though this is not a good sign."