West Bengal: TMC MP Sushmita Dev Resigns, Likely To Join BJP

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's hold over her party continues to weaken as the rebellion spreads to Parliament. Just a week after her trusted aide Sukhendu Sekhar Roy quit the Rajya Sabha, Sushmita Dev has resigned from the Upper House, dealing another significant blow to Banerjee’s camp.

Dev, a former Congress Lok Sabha MP from Assam's Silchar, left the party after her 2019 defeat and joined the Trinamool Congress in 2021. She quickly rose through the ranks as a national spokesperson before securing a Rajya Sabha berth. Sources indicate that Dev is likely to join the BJP, having reportedly met with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Delhi.

A Week of Setbacks

In a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan, Dev requested that her resignation be accepted with immediate effect. This marks the second high-profile resignation within a week, following the departure of Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, the party's chief whip in the Upper House for 13 years.

In his scathing resignation letter to Mamata Banerjee, Roy stated that the people of Bengal had "rejected the party's rampant corruption, extreme oppression of women, and its utter failure and the severe anarchy prevailing across sectors, including education, healthcare, industry, employment, and law and order."

Praising the BJP, Roy added: "The voters have, for the first time in Bengal's history, given the Bharatiya Janata Party a massive victory in terms of seats. The newly elected government has already begun working to implement multiple programmes for Bengal's overall development and reconstruction, in line with its election promises."

The recent wave of internal dissent has intensified, with reports of 61 MLAs throwing their weight behind rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee, further destabilizing the Trinamool Congress leadership.