Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dave on Wednesday resigned from the post of Rajya Sabha MP and said she had also left the Mamata Banerjee-led party, giving another jolt to the former West Bengal chief minister who is trying to salvage her party’s ranks after a crushing defeat in the Assembly elections last month at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Dev became the second TMC MP from the Senate to resign from the party after the resignation of veteran TMC leader Sukhendu Sekhar Rai, who resigned citing “unbridled corruption” and “chaotic governance” of the party.
When asked why she left TMC, Sushmita Dev said it was a “long story”.
“I have left the Trinamool Congress. What made me leave the party is a long story, and I don’t think that in politics everything has to be revealed. It’s just that I don’t want to be in a situation where I am in two boats at the same time. The kind of upbringing I have had, I cannot stay in one party and serve the other,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
Although she has parted ways with Mamata, Dev refused to comment on her former leader.
“I will not comment on Mamata Didi. That’s for sure,” she said.
Who is Sushmita Dev?
Sushmita Dev is the former president of the All India Mahila Congress and lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to BJP candidate Rajdeep Roy, prompting her to resign from the Congress party and join the TMC in 2021.
She also served as national spokesperson for TMC until her resignation.
After Sushmita Dev’s resignation. Pictures have emerged from her meeting with Assam Chief Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma in Delhi.
Mamata’s fight to keep TMC together
Supreme TMC Mamata Banerjee faces the biggest challenge of her career, which is to keep her party intact after losing the state to the BJP in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
In successive internal tremors, Mamata Banerjee’s position as chief party leader, who has led the party in power for three consecutive terms, is under threat, with MLAs and MLAs defecting from ranks.
First, MLA Ritabrata Banerjee claimed to be the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly with the support of 58 legislators last week, then Member of Parliament, Kakoli Ghosh, publicly expressed his desire to secede with the support of 19 rebel MPs and the support of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
Rai, who is among the most recognizable faces of the TMC in Parliament, announced his decision in Delhi hours before the India Caucus meeting, which will be attended by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
In a statement, Rai referred to what he described as rampant corruption in governance and the party organization, and said that popular anger against the former TMC regime had reached alarming levels.
