In a major political development, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced Shubhendu Shekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev, and Prakash Chik Baraik as its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha by-elections scheduled for July 24, just hours after the three leaders formally joined the party from the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The bypolls were necessitated after all three leaders resigned from their Rajya Sabha seats before switching allegiance to the BJP.
The BJP government has renamed the Lakshmi Bhandar scheme introduced during the previous Trinamool Congress government as the Annapurna Yojana and doubled the monthly financial assistance.
