Kolkata, Feb 28 (PTI) When the TMC announced its four nominees for the Rajya Sabha elections, the focus was not on numbers but on the message behind the choices.
With its comfortable majority in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly, the ruling party is set to bag four of the five Rajya Sabha seats from the state, leaving one for the BJP.
The outcome is virtually predetermined unless an unexpected candidature turns it into a contest.
Yet, in the political playbook of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Rajya Sabha nominations are rarely routine; they are coded signals.
This year’s list — Babul Supriyo, Rajeev Kumar, Menaka Guruswamy and Koel Mallick — reveals a calibrated pivot ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
In earlier years, Banerjee and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee used the Upper House to signal outreach to minorities, women, tribal communities or party old-timers, blending representation with symbolism. This time, the emphasis is unmistakably urban and elite.
All four nominees belong to what insiders describe as the “upper tier”- English-speaking, nationally networked and comfortable in Delhi’s corridors of power.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC trailed in 76 municipalities.
Anti-incumbency was sharper in towns and cities than in rural Bengal, where welfare schemes continue to anchor support. Urban middle-class voters, aspirational and media-savvy, showed signs of drift. The Rajya Sabha slate appears designed to arrest that slide.
The nomination of Rajeev Kumar is perhaps the most politically layered.
As Kolkata Police Commissioner, Kumar was at the centre of the Saradha chit fund storm. In 2019, when the CBI attempted to question him, Banerjee staged a dramatic dharna in Kolkata, projecting it as a battle to defend federalism against central overreach. The episode cemented Kumar’s image as a trusted officer in her inner circle.
In recent months, however, signals suggested a cooling of ties. He was denied an extension as acting DGP and served a show-cause notice following administrative controversies, fuelling speculation that his proximity to the leadership had waned.
His nomination decisively alters that narrative.
Last week, Kumar sent a defamation notice to Union minister Sukanta Majumdar over corruption allegations. Few believe a retired IPS officer would take such a step without political backing.
“By elevating him to the Rajya Sabha, the TMC appears to be sending a message to the bureaucracy ahead of 2026: loyalty during confrontations with the Centre will not go unrewarded,” political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said.
Senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim dismissed BJP criticism, arguing that retired officials are free to choose political paths and that precedents exist across parties.
Koel Mallick’s nomination reflects the party’s urban recalibration.
A prominent face in Bengali cinema and daughter of veteran actor Ranjit Mallick, she carries cultural capital that resonates with Bengal’s ‘bhadralok’ imagination. Educated and socially visible, she represents aspirational stability rather than organisational politics.
Her political induction was subtle. When Abhishek Banerjee earlier visited the Mallick residence with a state outreach document, it appeared ceremonial.
In retrospect, some see it as the opening act of a carefully scripted entry into public life. Her candidature signals that the TMC wants to project itself not merely as a welfare-driven rural force but as a party at ease with Bengal’s urban middle class.
If Mallick represents outreach, Supriyo represents retention.
Once a Union minister under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Supriyo joined the TMC in 2021 after being dropped from the Union Council of Ministers.
In April 2022, he won the Ballygunge bypoll and entered the state cabinet. Yet his relatively narrow margin and reported reluctance to contest from Asansol South, where he was expected to take on BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul, had sparked speculation about his comfort within the state unit.
In recent months, Supriyo publicly hinted at returning to music while privately assuring associates that “Didi and Abhishek will not let me go.” The Rajya Sabha berth does precisely that, it keeps him within the fold while redeploying him to Delhi, terrain he knows well.
“For the TMC, the signal is clear: high-profile defectors who align firmly with the party will be accommodated, and assets will not be allowed to drift ahead of a crucial election,” a political analyst said.
Menaka Guruswamy’s nomination adds a national dimension. A senior advocate who was part of the legal team in the 2018 judgment that read down Section 377, she has also represented the West Bengal government in key legal battles. Her induction is seen as an attempt to sharpen the TMC’s constitutional articulation and strengthen its voice within the opposition INDIA bloc.
The BJP has framed the nominations as evidence that the TMC sidelined grassroots workers in favour of “outsiders”.
Within the party, however, the calculation appears different- reinforcing its parliamentary bench with recognisable faces, reassuring sections of the bureaucracy, retaining prominent converts and reaching out to an urban electorate that showed unease in 2024.
In Mamata Banerjee’s political grammar, the Upper House is rarely just a chamber in Delhi. It is a stage from which she signals who remains trusted and which voters she is courting as the countdown to the 2026 Assembly polls gathers pace. PTI PNT MNB
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