Former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Prakash Chik Baraik and Sukhendu Sekhar Roy joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday.

They had resigned as Rajya Sabha MPs in June.

On Thursday, the three leaders were inducted into the BJP in the presence of state party president Samik Bhattacharya.

The TMC has been grappling with factionalism after its loss in the West Bengal Assembly elections in May.

On June 14, a delegation of 20 TMC MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and requested that their group be merged with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens’ Party, which is a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee wrote to Birla on June 19, demanding that the rebel MPs be disqualified.

On June 3, nearly 60 out of the TMC’s 80 MLAs rebelled against the party leadership to choose Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition in the House.

Recently, on July 5, former West Bengal Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, who was a key loyalist of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, resigned from all party posts.

After joining the BJP, Devi said that the “massive wins” of the BJP in West Bengal and Assam prove that the “faith of the public in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision is only growing”.

“One might praise or criticise a government or point out its shortcomings,” Devi said, “...but when it comes to last-mile delivery, the work Modi-ji has accomplished is something no other party in the history of this country has managed to do.”

Bhattacharya welcomed the three leaders and said that “this is a joyous occasion for us and the entire BJP is delighted”.

Written by Tanya Shrivastava. Edited by Sneha.

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