 "TMC leader Luizinho Faleiro files Rajya Sabha nomination from Bengal")
Former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, who had joined the Trinamool Congress in September after ending his decades-long association with the Congress, on Monday filed his nomination as his new party's candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha by-election in West Bengal.
The TMC had on Saturday named Faleiro, who was appointed as the party's national vice president in October, as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha by-election on November 29.
"I am grateful to our party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for giving me this opportunity. I will raise people's issues in Parliament. Mamata Banerjee is currently the strongest opposition voice in the country," Falerio told reporters after filing his nomination.
The November 29 by-election to the Rajya Sabha seat was necessitated by the resignation of TMC MP Arpita Ghosh from the Upper House. Principal opposition BJP is yet to announce any candidate for the by-election.
The TMC, after a stunning victory in the West Bengal assembly elections held earlier this year, is trying to expand its footprint in BJP-ruled Goa and Tripura. Elections to the 40-member Goa assembly are likely to be held early next year.