Sushmita Dev, Selvaganapathy take oath as Rajya Sabha members
Oct 26, 2021
New Delhi [India], October 26 : Sushmita Dev from Trinamool Congress and S. Selvaganapathy of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took oath as members of Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Both Dev and Selvaganapathy were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from West Bengal and Puducherry respectively in September.
Talking about her election to Rajya Sabha to ANI, Dev said, "I will sit for the first time in Rajya Sabha as a Trinamool Congress member. There are a lot of responsibilities. I am from Assam, have been ordered to work in Tripura and was elected from West Bengal. There are issues of states, of people that need to be raised and I will try my best. I hope the opposition will get a chance to raise issues concerning people in the Winter Session of Parliament."
She said the Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should immediately resign after the governor from his own party exposed the corruption in his government. 
"The governor of Goa who was appointed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has raised allegations against a Chief Minister of the same alliance. The investigation must be carried out and proper action must be taken against Sawant if Prime Minister Narendra Modi truly has zero tolerance against corruption. Otherwise, people should realise the difference between what he practices and preaches," she added.
Former Goa Governor Satyapal Malik had earlier alleged that there was corruption in the Goa government. He in an interview to India Today had said, "There was corruption in Goa Government in the handling of everything."
S. Selvaganapathy from BJP, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President JP Nadda, Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangaswamy and members of Puducherry Legislative Assembly for giving him an opportunity to serve as a member of Rajya Sabha.
"I would like to concentrate on public issues. I would like to develop Puducherry as a hub for business, education, spirituality and tourism. Puducherry is the gateway to enter other southern states. In two or three years we will get a chance to get members of assembly and Parliament from all southern states."
The Election Commission had earlier in September announced by-polls for six Rajya Sabha seats across five states. These seats fell vacant due to the resignation or death of the sitting MPs. It also announced a biennial election for one seat from Puducherry.
The six Rajya Sabha seats included two in Tamil Nadu and one seat each in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.
