Former Congress leader Sushmita Dev joins TMC

Kolkata: Sushmita Dev, who resigned from the Congress party this morning, joined the All India Trinamool Congress on Monday afternoon. Sushmita Dev, who headed the Congress party women’s wing, surprised the party last month by changing her bio on Twitter to indicate her resignation.

Tweeting about the development, the TMC said, ‘We warmly welcome the former President of All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev to our Trinamool family!’ TMC also posted pictures showing Abhishek Banerjee and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien welcoming Sushmita Dev to the party. Sushmita Dev resigned from the Congress party and announced that she was ‘beginning a new chapter of public service’.

‘I cherish my three-decade-long association with the Indian National Congress. May I take this opportunity to thank the party, all its leaders, members and workers who have been my memorable journey. Madam, I thank you personally for your guidance and the opportunities you gave me. I value the enriching experience,’ Sushmita Dev wrote in her letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

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Sushmita Dev’s Twitter bio revealed that she had quit the Congress when it changed to ‘former Member of Indian National Congress and Mahila Congress.’

While many Congress leaders have called Sushmita Dev’s exit from the party unfortunate, senior leader Kapil Sibal said that the party leadership is moving forward with ‘eyes wide shut’.

‘Sushmita Dev resigns from primary membership of our party. While young leaders leave, we ‘oldies’ are blamed for our efforts to strengthen it. The party moves on with: Eyes Wide Shut,’ Kapil Sibal tweeted. Manish Tewari, Congress MP, called the development ‘most unfortunate’. Despite this, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said party president Sonia Gandhi has not received any formal communication from Sushmita Dev regarding her resignation. According to Surjewala, Sushmita Dev is ‘mature enough to take her decisions’.

In March, the Congress dismissed reports that Sushmita Dev had resigned from the party over seat-sharing in the Assam elections.

Sushmita Dev is the daughter of Bengali leader and stalwart of Assam’s Congress party, Santosh Mohan Dev. Formerly, she had been elected to the Silchar seat, a stronghold of her father’s.