The Trinamul Congress on Sunday fielded journalist Sagarika Ghose for the Rajya Sabha along with three others for the upcoming polls to the upper house.

Elections are to be held for five seats in Bengal which are to fall vacant in April, along with 51 others in the rest of the country. With no sixth nomination from Bengal, all five will be elected unopposed.

"We are pleased to announce the candidature of Sagarika Ghose, Sushmita Dev, Mohammad Nadimul Haque and Mamata Bala Thakur for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections. We extend our heartfelt wishes to them and may they work towards upholding Trinamul's enduring legacy of indomitable spirit and advocacy for the rights of every Indian," the party announced in its official X handle on Sunday afternoon.

Hours after the Trinamul's announcement, the BJP announced the Bengal unit chief spokesperson and former Basirhat (South) MLA Samik Bhattacharya will be the party nominee to the Rajya Sabha from Bengal.

"Sagarika is a familiar face, known nationally. She adds to the diversity of our representatives in the Rajya Sabha," said a Trinamul MP, "Ours will be the youngest team in the upper house with only three out of 13 above the age of 70. Four from minority community, 40 per cent women's representation.

The list ends speculation over the fate of Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Bengal Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is likely to get relocate to Rajasthan and get a nomination from there.

The only surprise pick appeared to be Ghose, a Rhodes scholar, former prime time anchor and biographer of Atal Behari Vajpayee and Indira Gandhi, from whose show chief minister Mamata Banerjee had walked out from nearly 12 years ago after branding a Presidency student and others as "Maoists and CPM cadres", for asking questions on the conduct of some of her ministers. The student later wrote an open letter to the chief minister, explaining why she couldn't be called a Maoist.

The question that upset Mamata was whether party leaders like Madan Mitra and Arabul Islam, "who wield power should act/should have more responsibility."

On March 13, 2018 responding to a vicious tweet Ghose wrote: "haha! I will never accept any RS ticket or PS ticket or CS ticket from any political party, sir. That I can give you in writing and you can save this tweet."

The tweet generated over a thousand likes and 102 users had bookmarked or saved the tweet, as Ghose wanted.

Ghosh had not commented on her nomination on social media till around 630pm on Sunday.

She has been a vocal critic of the Narendra Modi government and the right-wing "hate cult".

Nobody in Trinamul could say how Ghosh was convinced, or if she needed any convincing at all, to agree to the nomination.

A Facebook post on the Trinamul's latest inductee's page from March 25, 2013 says, "My stormy show with Mamata Banerjee picks up Best Public Debate at News Television Awards 2013."

On May 21, 2012, Ghose had come to Calcutta to host the chief minister, a year into office, at the historic Town Hall on her show Question Time with Didi.

The audience for the show included members from the public as well as Mamata's sympathisers like Suvaprasanna and the late theatre personality Saonli Mitra.

The show was supposed to be an open platform for Mamata to answer questions from the section of the audience, on the eve of her completing a year in office. It took Mamata less than 12 minutes and only five questions to walk out of the show.

Ghose had to rush to Writers' Buildings to placate Mamata and an interview was conducted without any audience.

In an interview published on a website on October 21, 2017, Ghose regarding a question on the award-winning debate, said, "That interaction, you know, affirmed my belief that politicians and journalists can't be friends. Mamata Banerjee and I used to share a cordial relationship for years before that interview, which is why once she came to power, she invited me for that interview. Afterwards, she came and told me, "You did this to me." She saw it as a betrayal of her faith. What politicians don't understand is that journalists are not loyalists. They are there to ask questions."

With a nomination that is sure to earn her a seat in the Rajya Sabha, Ghose will have to turn as much a loyalist as anyone else in the Trinamul.

"By nominating three women, Didi has shown that the Trinamul is serious about representation of women at all levels," said a Trinamul leader.

Sushmita Dev, daughter of the late Congress stalwart Santosh Mohan Dev, was a Trinamul nominee to the Rajya Sabha till last October when her term ended.

Trinamul insiders said, she had some differences with the party's all-India general secretary and Mamata's nephew Abhishek, which may have been sorted now.

"It appears that Didi had the last say and picked the candidates, all of whom have a clean image," said a Trinamul leader.