Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev on Wednesday resigned as Rajya Sabha MP, second such jolt for the Mamata Banerjee-led party this week after the resignation of veteran TMC leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray from the membership of the Upper House.
Ray resigned as Rajya Sabha MP alleging “unbridled corruption” and “anarchical rule” of the party.
Sushmita Dev is the former president of All India Mahila Congress and lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election to BJP candidate Rajdeep Roy, which led her to resign from the Congress party and her entry to the TMC in 2021. Track TMC crisis LIVE updates here
Dev, who was also serving as the national spokesperson of TMC, later told media persons that she has left the TMC.
"I have left Trinamool Congress. It is a long story why I left TMC. I don't want to be in a situation where I am in two boats at the same time. I will not comment on Mamata Didi," Dev said.
After Sushmita Dev's resignation, pictures from her meeting with Assam chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Himanta Biswa Sarma in Delhi surfaced.
{{/usCountry}}After Sushmita Dev's resignation, pictures from her meeting with Assam chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Himanta Biswa Sarma in Delhi surfaced.
{{/usCountry}}Saying that she is a “free woman” now, Dev described her meet with the Assam chief minister as part of a courtesy visit. "I have known Himanta da (Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma) for long now; I paid a courtesy visit to him," she said, speaking to media persons.
“I am not privy to who is doing what; also, I am not directly involved in Bengal politics, as I am from Assam,” she was heard saying, in a video shared by ANI news agency.
Mamata's fight to keep TMC together
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is facing the biggest challenge ever of keeping her party intact after losing the state to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded assembly elections.
In back-to-back internal jolts, Mamata Banerjee's position as the commander of the party-in-chief of the party that was in power for three straight terms is under a threat with MLAs and MPs breaking rank.
First MLA Ritabrata Banerjee staked claim as the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly with the support of 58 lawmakers last week, then a Member of Parliament (MP), Kakoli Ghosh, openly expressed the wish for splitting away with the support of 19 rebel MPs and support the BJP-led National Democractic Alliance (NDA).
Ray, among TMC's most recognisable faces in Parliament, announced his decision in Delhi hours before a meeting of the INDIA bloc, to be attended by former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
In a statement, Ray cited what he described as rampant corruption in governance and the party organisation, and said public anger against the erstwhile TMC dispensation had reached alarming levels.