BJP names Ananta Maharaj as its Rajya Sabha candidate, TMC says bid to fan separatism

The BJP's decision to nominate Ananta Rai 'Maharaj', who has been demanding a separate state of 'Greater Cooch Behar' to be carved out of West Bengal, as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from the state has kicked off a fresh storm with the ruling TMC accusing the saffron party of fanning separatism in the state.

Ananta Rai on Tuesday said the BJP has offered him a Rajya Sabha ticket after a meeting with Union MoS for Home Nisith Pramanik.

"I am happy that they have chosen me. I will try to serve the people of the state and my region," Ananta Rai told reporters after the news broke of his nomination by the BJP through a party notification from Delhi Wednesday morning.

Six Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal will go to the polls on July 24; a by-poll will also be held in another seat from the state.

Rai heads one of the GCPA factions, demanding that a separate state or union territory be carved out of northern West Bengal. He is believed to have considerable say among the Rajbanshi community of the North Bengal region, estimated to account for nearly 30percentt of the electorate in the area.

The community is one of the biggest SC communities of the state after Matuas in South Bengal.

"We believe in taking all the communities along and moving forward to the development path. We believe in the ideals of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas, '" BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.

Reacting to his nomination, TMC MP and spokesperson Santanu Sen said, "This only proves that BJP fans separatist movement in the state".

"We have been saying for a long time that the BJP is fanning a separatist movement in North Bengal and wants to divide the state. This development only proves the point. BJP should clearly say whether they want division of the state or not," he said.

According to political analysts, the Rajbanshis are an important electoral factor in four out of the eight Lok Sabha seats in North Bengal. The BJP, in 2019, had bagged seven out of these eight parliamentary seats.

However, political equations have changed in the region in the last four years, with the TMC recovering much of its ground in parts of North Bengal and Congress-Left combine emerging as an alternative to the BJP.

With its eight districts, including picturesque Darjeeling, north Bengal is economically important for the state for its tea, timber and tourism industries. The region, which shares a border with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, has witnessed several statehood movements since the early eighties by various ethnic groups such as Gorkhas, Rajbanshis, Kochs and Kamatapuris.

Several BJP MPs and MLAs from the region have advocated that a separate state or Union territory be carved out with these eight districts. However, the state BJP has maintained that it does not support such demands.

The Trinamool Congress on Monday announced its candidates for six Rajya Sabha seats.

Among them are Derek O'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Dola Sen. O'Brien, an MP since 2011, is the TMC's leader in Rajya Sabha, while Ray, who was first sent to the Upper House of Parliament in 2012, is the deputy chief whip. Sen, a senior leader and trade unionist, became an MP in 2017.

The newcomers on the list were Bangla Sanskriti Mancha president Samirul Islam, TMC's Alipurduar district president Prakash Chik Baraik, and RTI activist and TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale.

A by-poll will be held in another seat as former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro resigned as a TMC MP in April.

The TMC has 216 MLAs in the 294-member assembly and enjoys the support of five BJP MLAs, who switched over to the ruling party but are yet to resign from the House. The BJP has a strength of 70 in the assembly.

As per the numbers in the assembly, TMC will get six of these seven Rajya Sabha seats and the BJP one.