Former Assam MP Sushmita Dev Resigns From Congress, Joins TMC

Congress party loses yet another member. The party’s prominent figure from Assam, Sushmita Dev has left Congress to join Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Kolkata.

In a brief letter to party president Sonia Gandhi, the former Member of Parliament said she was resigning from the party’s primary membership but didn’t give any specific reason.

Speaking about her resignation from Congress, she said, "I have a long relationship with Congress and I have written everything about that in my resignation letter. I got many opportunities in Congress and I tried to do justice to all the responsibilities. Many people tried to call me, but I was not available. On August 15, I gave the Congress president my resignation."

“In my 30 years in politics, I haven’t demanded anything from the Congress high command,” she added.

According to media reports, Dev was said to be unhappy over some of the decisions taken by the party leadership in Assam. “I don’t think I have compromised my ideology in joining the TMC. My joining the TMC is unconditional and I will take any responsibility given to me by Mamata Banerjee,” Dev said.

Her shift to TMC is at a time when West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamta Banerjee is making an effort to make her party’s presence felt in Tripura and Assam ahead of the 2024 general elections.

Dev is the daughter of late veteran Congressman Santosh Mohan Dev and was elected to the Parliament for the first time in 2014 from the family seat of Silchar in Assam.

A former MP from Silchar, Dev is also the former president of the All India Mahila Congress. She was considered to be the face of the Congress in Assam’s largely Bengali-speaking Barak Valley and was on the course of winning the next election in Assam.

However, after its defeat to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent Assembly elections, the Congress has now lost three leaders in Assam including Rupjyoti Kurmi and Sushanta Borgohain.

Also read: Mamata Banerjee’s Landslide Victory Against Saffron Politics Hinges On Women And Welfare

(Edited by Sanhati Banerjee)

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