Sushmita Dev joins Mamata Banerjee's TMC in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Sushmita Dev, the former Member of Parliament (MP) from Assam's Silchar, has reportedly joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party and is sitting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for talks.

The former Lok Sabha MP joined the Trinamool in the presence of senior party leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien.

Sushmita Dev, who has reached Kolkata for talks with the TMC top brass, has apparently resigned from the Congress owing to discontentment over the party's poor showing in the Lok Sabha polls.

SUSHMITA DEV'S RESIGNATION FROM CONGRESS:

Dev's resignation came like a bolt from the blue for the Congress, as she had been taking part in the party's events and functions up untill very recently.

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On Saturday afternoon, the Congress high command — including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi — had a meeting with the delegations of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee in Delhi.

Notably, Sushmita Dev was among Congress leaders whose Twitter handle was blocked over a post showing images of the family members of a minor girl who was allegedly raped and killed in Delhi. The images were originally posted by former Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Sushmita Dev, who headed the Congress's women's wing, the All India Mahila Congress, is the daughter of the veteran Bengali Congress leader Santosh Mohan Dev and was a member of the 16th Lok Sabha from the constituency of Silchar in Assam.

Earlier, Sivasagar MLA and peasant leader Akhil Gogoi turned down the Mamata Banerjee-led party’s offer to head its Assam unit.

Stressing on Assam’s regional sentiment, Gogoi said although he will love to see Mamta Banerjee as the next Prime Minister and his party ‘Raijor Dol’ will play the part of TMC’s ally to dethrone BJP from power, he cannot join any national political party.

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