“All India Trinamool Congress Party and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee have honoured the people of Barak Valley part of Assam by nominating me as Rajya Sabha candidate from West Bengal,” said Sushmita Dev, former MP from Silchar and daughter of former Union minister Santosh Mohan Dev.
She will be the first Rajya Sabha MP from Bengali speaking Barak Valley part of Assam since Karnendu Bhattacharjee was elected as Rajya Sabha MP from the Congress party almost a decade back.
Talking to Hindustan Times, Sushmita Dev said, “I did not expect such a big reward from Mamta Banerjee and her party just after joining them. It indicates that Mamata Banerjee wants to extend a strong leadership beyond West Bengal. Our party is looking forward to strengthening the women leadership and by nominating me as the Rajya Sabha candidate from West Bengal, the party has proven that it is possible. I am the first woman from North East India to get such an honour.”
The youngest daughter of former Union minister Santosh Mohan Dev and former MP from Silchar Sushmita Dev’s name has been nominated as Trinamool Congress Party’s candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election. The party officially announced the decision on Tuesday afternoon.
She said she was informed over the phone on Tuesday evening from the party’s headquarter about her candidature. “I could not believe what I have heard over the phone until I saw the tweet from the party’s official Twitter handle. It is an honour and a responsibility as well. I have to work at the grassroots level in Assam and Tripura as the TMC party’s cadre. I am in Tripura right now and will be visiting my home in three days. I hope people of my native land are happy.”
{{/usCountry}}She said she was informed over the phone on Tuesday evening from the party’s headquarter about her candidature. “I could not believe what I have heard over the phone until I saw the tweet from the party’s official Twitter handle. It is an honour and a responsibility as well. I have to work at the grassroots level in Assam and Tripura as the TMC party’s cadre. I am in Tripura right now and will be visiting my home in three days. I hope people of my native land are happy.”
{{/usCountry}}Sushmita Dev left Congress Party on August 16 this year and joined Trinamool Congress later. More than 500 Congress party workers followed in her footsteps and joined the TMC within 15 days. Her parents were lifelong Congress workers. But she claimed that she did not compromise her father’s ideology by joining TMC. Congress leaders in Assam, especially in the Barak Valley, however, criticized her heavily and call her iterator.
Answering to question regarding the Congress party’s criticism she said, “I have joined Trinamool Congress party to save their future. Because the Congress party has compromised its ideology and lost relevance amongst the commons. On the other side, BJP never cares about the pride of Barak Valley. I don’t like to sound narrow, but in Assam, we need a person who can speak for the Bengali speaking population. I had to take a stand because so many people were looking at me. Now after getting such an honour, I can definitely tell my supporters that our decision was not wrong.”
Karnendu Bhattacharjee’s term as Rajya Sabha MP ended in 2008. He was nominated twice. Apart from him, Kamalendu Bhattacharjee also served as a Rajya Sabha MP in the early 2000’s.