Matua leader Mamata Thakur, journalist Sagarika Ghose: TMC's careful selection of Rajya Sabha poll nominees explained

livemint.com:

Md Nadimul Haque, Mamata Bala Thakur, and Sagarika Ghose. The Rajya Sabha Polls are scheduled to ne held on 27 February. Amongst all, TMC's surprise nomination of journalist Sagarika Ghose seemed to have caught attention.

Sagarika Ghose was also subjected to abject trolling on social media for the Rajya Sabha Poll nomination. Four TMC candidates and one from the BJP will be elected to the Rajya Sabha. The TMC has 222 members in the Assembly while the BJP has 68.

Others make up three seats, while one seat is vacant in the 294-member House. Here's taking a look at what each candidate brings to the table for TMC Sagarika Ghose is a first-time nominee and TMC's surprise selection. A journalist, an author, Sagarika Ghose has worked with several prominent news publications.

The daughter of former Doordarshan director-general Bhaskar Ghose, she, like Derek O’Brien, will likely be the party’s voice in national media. In 2012, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had angrily stormed out of a television show hosted by Ghose after taking offence at a question. Another journalist, Mohammad Nadimul Haque is a two-time Rajya Sabha MP, having been sent to the Upper House of Parliament for the first time in 2012.

He is the owner of the Kolkata-based Urdu daily Akhbar-e-Mashriq. He was a member of the Rajbhasha Committee of the Railway Ministry between October 2009 and March 2012, a time when the TMC was in charge of the ministry. He also served as a member of the Passenger Services Committee.