Sushmita Dev quits TMC, meets Himanta in Delhi, fuels switch rumours

In a fresh setback for the All India Trinamool Congress, Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev on Wednesday resigned from both the Upper House of Parliament and the party’s primary membership, becoming the second Trinamool parliamentarian to quit within a week.

The development gained added political significance after Dev met Himanta Biswa Sarma in New Delhi shortly after submitting her resignation, sparking speculation that she could be headed for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Dev's exit comes days after veteran Trinamool leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy resigned from both the Rajya Sabha and the party on 8 June, citing what he described as a public rejection of the party in West Bengal.

Roy had claimed that widespread corruption, crimes against women, and deterioration in sectors such as education, healthcare, industrial development, employment and law and order had eroded public confidence in the party after 15 years in power.

A prominent political figure from Assam, Dev is the daughter of late Santosh Mohan Dev, a senior Congress leader who served as a Union minister under former prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh.

Before joining the Trinamool Congress, Sushmita Dev represented Assam’s Silchar constituency in the Lok Sabha as a Congress MP from 2014 to 2019. She lost the 2019 parliamentary election to BJP candidate Rajdeep Roy before switching to the Trinamool Congress in August 2021.

Soon after her induction, Mamata Banerjee tasked her with expanding the party’s footprint across the northeastern states, particularly Assam.

Dev served two terms in the Rajya Sabha as a Trinamool member. Her first stint was an interim term from October 2021 to August 2023. She was re-elected to the Upper House in April 2024 but resigned before completing her six-year tenure.

While Dev has not publicly disclosed the reasons behind her resignation, her meeting with Sarma has intensified speculation over her next political move, adding to the challenges facing the Trinamool Congress following a string of high-profile exits.

With IANS inputs