Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya MP Sushmita Dev on Wednesday resigned from the Upper House, two days after fellow legislator Sukhendu Sekhar Rai resigned, reducing the party’s strength in Parliament, as the TMC is also facing a revolt among Lok Sabha lawmakers.
“I hereby resign from the membership of Rajya Sabha, which may be accepted with immediate effect,” Dev wrote in the letter addressed to Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan.
Ray and Dave’s resignation will pave the way for a Senate by-election. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has 208 seats in the assembly, is set to win both seats. Under the law, each by-election will be conducted independently.
The two resignations deepen the crisis in the Transitional Military Council, which played a major role in defeating the draft law amending the constitution to implement the early demarcation of borders.
Dev, daughter of late Congress MP Santosh Mohan Dev, joined TMC from Congress amid the Bengal-based party’s plan to expand into national politics. She has been a member of the Rajya Sabha for two terms. Dave, who will win her second term in 2024, will remain in the Senate for another four years.
Meanwhile, former TMC Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, claimed that 20 MPs had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to consider them as a separate bloc and not part of the TMC. Dastidar is expected to meet Birla on Wednesday.
