Five Trinamool Congress MPs on Wednesday submitted nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled to be held on August 8.
Three Rajya Sabha members, Derek O' Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Dola Sen submitted their nominations along with two new candidates Dr Manas Bhuniya and Shanta Chetri. Derek O' Brien, Roy and Sen have been renominated for Rajya Sabha. Their six-year term will come to an end in July. Dr Bhuniya, who was elected as a Congress nominee from Sabang in 2016 Assembly election, joined Trinamool Congress after he developed differences with West Bengal Pradesh Congress President Adhir Chowdhury and Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan. Chetri, who was a three time MLA from GNLF, joined Trinamool Congress two years ago. She lost from Kurseong Assembly seat in 2016. Dr Bhuniya said: "I will highlight the party's issues in the Upper House of Parliament. I have been working with people from my student days and will continue to do so in Rajya Sabha too," he said.
Earlier, Trinamool Congress had sent Manish Gupta to Rajya Sabha. The seat had fallen vacant after Mithun Chakraborty resigned. Gupta was the state Power minister in Mamata Banerje's first Cabinet between 2011-16. He defeated Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in 2011 from Jadavpur Assembly seat. However, he lost to Sujan Chakraborty of CPI(M) in 2016 Assembly poll. Gupta, a former Chief Secretary of the state, joined Trinamool Congress and was fielded against Bhattacharjee.