Bengali Actor Koyel Joins BJP, Set To Contest Rajya Sabha Polls

Bengali film actor Rukmini Mallick, popularly known as Koyel Mallick, joined the BJP on Monday, a day after the party nominated her for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. 

The daughter of veteran Bengali film actor Ranjit Mallick had a short stint as a TMC Rajya Sabha MP from April 6 to July 16. She resigned after the Mamata Banerjee-led party's electoral debacle in the assembly elections. Welcoming Koyel Mallick into the BJP fold, the party's West Bengal general secretary Sashi Agnihotri said the actor will file her nomination



for the Rajya Sabha seat on Monday.

"It would be an honour for me to become a member of the Upper House of Parliament and get a chance to work for the welfare of the people," Mallick told a press conference at the BJP state headquarters here. 

The actor-politician said she wants to be part of the development initiatives taken up by the first BJP government in West Bengal and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari for selecting her for the Rajya Sabha membership.