Kolkata, July 9 -- Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik, the three Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders who resigned from the Rajya Sabha in June, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kolkata on Thursday. The BJP said all three former TMC leaders will contest the July 24 bypolls to the Upper House seats vacated by them.

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya welcomed them to the party at its West Bengal headquarters in Salt Lake and stopped short of confirming whether they would be the party's candidates.

"They are officially joining the party led by Narendra Modi who has steadily taken the nation forward. Right now the only identity of these three persons is that they are BJP workers," he said.

Asked about his e...