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West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya holds the party’s flag as former Trinamool Congress MPs Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, and Prakash Chik Baraik join his party, in Kolkata.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the West Bengal Assembly poll in 2026, winning 207 of the 293 seats, West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya made a bold political claim. “Our doors are closed for Trinamool. There will be no ‘Trinamoolification’ of the BJP,” Mr. Bhattacharya had said. The 62-year-old leader, who had been a foot soldier of the party when its vote share was in single digits in West Bengal was among the first to use the phrase, ‘Trinamoolification of the BJP’.
He didn’t know then that on the afternoon of July 9, he would be handing out lotus-insignia party flags to three former Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs at the BJP office in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area. The three MPs were Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev, and Prakash Chik Baraik. They had been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Trinamool Congress, and had resigned after the party suffered an electoral setback in the Assembly poll. When in the Trinamool, they had publicly criticised the BJP.
Within hours of Mr. Bhattacharya welcoming the Trinamool leaders into the BJP fold, the party announced that the former Trinamool MPs were to be renominated to the Upper House with the support of newly elected BJP legislators. Mr. Bhattacharya tried to defend opening doors for the Trinamool leaders by saying that the decision was in national interest.
“Syama Prasad Mookerjee has taught us that the party is bigger than an individual, and the nation is bigger than the party,” he said, trying hard to say that inducting the three leaders into the party was an “exception”.