Trinamul decides to send Modi critic to Rajya Sabha

In a surprise move, Trinamul Congress on Saturday nominated retired bureaucrat, Jawhar Sircar, known to be a sharp critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for one of the two Rajya Sabha seats going to polls on August 9.

Mr Sircar, who was an IAS officer of the 1975 batch, took an early retirement late in 2016 following a clash with the BJP government at the Centre while serving as the Prasar Bharati CEO.

He recently came in the good books of TMC supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee for defending her government and slamming Mr Modi over the Centre’s disciplinary actions on former state chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

The TMC tweeted, “We are delighted to nominate Mr. @jawharsircar in the Upper House of the Parliament. Mr. Sircar spent nearly 42 years in public service & was also the former CEO of Prasar Bharati. His invaluable contribution to public service shall help us serve our country even better!”

Mr Sircar said, “I could not believe it since I am not a politician. It is a big opportunity for me. Many of us are fighting an autocratic power which has created a panic in the country. The opportunity to me will only strengthen that battle further. I have never been associated with any political party and commented against many parties. But it is one party which has given me the scope.”

“At present TMC is speaking up for each and every party in the country. It has 48 per cent vote share. If I get a chance, I would show the X-ray plate of how they (BJP) have been running the country with hoaxes because I served the government for 42 years.”

According to TMC sources, Mr Sircar has been fielded on the seat, vacated by Dinesh Trivedi who defected to the BJP in February.

Earlier speculation about the nominations of Mukul Roy and Yashwant Sinha of the TMC for the two RS seats was rife. With Mr Sircar’s nomination, all eyes are now on whether Mr Roy or Mr Sinha would get the second berth.