NEW DELHI: West Bengal BJP leader Rupa Ganguly who unsuccessfully had contested last year’s Assembly elections was on Tuesday nominated to the Rajya Sabha. President Pranab Mukherjee nominated Ganguly for the seat vacated by cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Siddhu.
Ganguly had shot to the fame after she played the character of Draupadi in the popular television serial Mahabharata broadcast in 1988.
The BJP had pinned high hopes on the 49 years old actor turned leader in the run up to the West Bengal polls. She had joined the BJP last year only.
The BJP by her nomination to the Rajya Sabha hopes to give a boost to the party profile in West Bengal where its vote share has seen a steady growth in the recent past. The BJP had won two Lok Sabha seats from the state in the 2014 general elections.
This year the government had nominated Subramanian Swamy, Narendra Jadhav, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Suresh Gopi, Swapan Dasgupta and Mary Kom as the new Rajya Sabha members.
Incidentally, the government had also nominated Pranav Pandya, who heads All World Gayatri Pariwar, for Rajya Sabha member in May. However, he had declined the nomination, saying that the atmosphere in the Upper House was not conducive for him to make any contributions. Afterward, the government had nominated Sambhaji Raje, who is a descendant of Shivaji, to the Rajya Sabha.