Bengali cinema's leading lady Koel Mallick has made a sharp political turn. Actress Koel Mallick, who resigned from the Rajya Sabha as a Trinamool Congress MP in July, has been named the BJP's candidate for the Rajya Sabha vote from West Bengal, according to multiple reports on Sunday.
Born Rukmini Mallick, the actor was sent to the Upper House by the TMC ahead of the Assembly elections and took her oath on April 6. Her time as a Trinamool MP was remarkably brief. She held the seat for barely three months before quitting. On July 16 she submitted her resignation in person to Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan. Her letter gave no reason. Reports at the time noted she had not attended a single sitting of Parliament.
Within hours of resigning, she was photographed at the Delhi residence of Union minister Bhupender Yadav, the BJP's central observer for West Bengal. Political circles took it as a sign of where she was headed. Neither she nor the BJP made any announcement then.
Former TMC Rajya Sabha MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik resigned, joined the BJP on July 9, and were nominated by the party for the resulting by-elections the same day. Mallick's resignation left the TMC with nine Rajya Sabha members, down from 13 in May. The party has been rocked by infighting since losing the Assembly elections.
Koel Mallick has not publicly explained her departure from the TMC or her choice of the BJP, and the TMC has not responded to the development.
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