Sushmita Dev says no compromise on ideology, joined TMC 'unconditionally'

Sushmita Dev said there was no question of compromising on ideology and speculations about her switching loyalty to the BJP were entirely incorrect.

Sushmita Dev, who resigned from the Congress and moved on to the Trinamool Congress on Monday, said there was no question of compromising on ideology and hence, speculation about switching loyalty to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were incorrect.

Sushmita Dev with TMC leader Derek O' Brien at a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI)

She added her joining the Trinamool Congress was “unconditional” and she would take any responsibility given to her by party supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Dev was a former Congress MP from Assam and was heading the women's wing of the Congress at the moment. She was welcomed into the TMC by senior party leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien in Kolkata on Monday, a day after she sent her resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. While she did not offer any reason for her leaving the grand old party, Dev is said to have written that she was beginning a "new chapter in my life of public service".

According to a report in NDTV, Dev said she had no issues with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. "I have a good equation (with them) but I'm also answerable to my people," she was quoted as saying in the report.

"I had a long association with the Congress. The Congress gave me a lot of opportunities. In my 30 years in politics, I have not demanded anything from the Congress high command. I hope the Congress president forgives me for my shortcomings," she further said.

“When the news of my resignation (from Congress) became public, many people were speculating that I will probably move to the BJP. That's when I said the speculations were entirely incorrect,” she added.

(With agency inputs)