Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday named Sushmita Dev as its candidate for bypoll to a Rajya Sabha seat in the state.
The seat fell vacant after Manas Bhunia quit the Rajya Sabha after winning the West Bengal Assembly polls from Sabang in Paschim Medinipur.
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“We are extremely pleased to nominate @SushmitaDevAITC to the Upper House of the Parliament. @MamataOfficial's vision to empower women and ensure their maximum participation in politics shall help our society to achieve much more! the TMC tweeted.
Dev, who joined the TMC last month after quitting the Congress, has been assigned the job of looking after party's functioning in Assam and Tripura, PTI reported.
She was said to be upset with the Congress’ seat-sharing in the alliance with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) during the Assam Assembly elections earlier this year and had threatened to quit the party.
She had been a Lok Sabha member from Silchar in Assam, which was earlier represented by her father late Santosh Mohan Dev.
Dev, who was one of the national spokespersons of the Congress and the chief of the party’s women's wing, expressed her gratitude to the TMC supremo for nominating her to the Rajya Sabha.
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“I am overwhelmed. I Thank my leader @MamataOfficial from the bottom of my heart. Her conviction to see more women in parliament is exemplary. To give someone from North East is path breaking,” she tweeted.
The bypoll to six Rajya Sabha seats, including the one in West Bengal, will be held on October 4.