TMC Faces Fresh Blow as Sushmita Dev Resigns from Rajya Sabha Amid Growing Internal Turmoil

Guwahati: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) suffered another major setback on Wednesday as Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev tendered her resignation from the Upper House, becoming the second senior parliamentarian to quit the party within a week and deepening signs of unrest within the Mamata Banerjee-led outfit.

Dev's resignation comes close on the heels of the departure of veteran TMC leader and former Rajya Sabha chief whip Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, whose exit was accompanied by a sharply worded letter criticizing the party's leadership and governance record.

The back-to-back resignations have intensified speculation about growing fissures within the Trinamool Congress at a time when the party is grappling with internal dissent and political uncertainty following recent electoral setbacks.

Political observers view Dev's exit as particularly significant given her stature as one of the party's most prominent national faces and one of the few leaders tasked with expanding TMC's footprint beyond West Bengal, especially in the Northeast.

Sushmita Dev, a lawyer by profession, hails from a prominent political family in Assam. She is the daughter of late Congress veteran and former Union Minister Santosh Mohan Dev, one of the most influential political leaders from the Barak Valley region.

She entered active politics through the Congress and steadily rose through the ranks to become one of the party's most recognizable leaders from the Northeast. In 2014, she won the Silchar Lok Sabha constituency in Assam and emerged as a vocal parliamentarian on issues relating to women's rights, citizenship, and the Northeast.

During her stint in the Congress, she served as the President of the All India Mahila Congress and was frequently deployed as a national spokesperson. However, after losing the Silchar seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Dev's political trajectory took a dramatic turn.

In August 2021, she resigned from the Congress and joined the Trinamool Congress, a move widely seen as part of Mamata Banerjee's efforts to build a national opposition platform. Within months, Dev became one of the party's key national spokespersons and was subsequently elected to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal.

Her resignation follows the departure of Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, a trusted Mamata Banerjee aide who had served as the party's chief whip in the Rajya Sabha for 13 years.

In his resignation letter, Roy launched an unprecedented attack on the party leadership, alleging widespread corruption, administrative failures and deteriorating law and order in West Bengal.

He also acknowledged the BJP's electoral success in the state, stating that voters had delivered a historic mandate and that the newly elected government had begun implementing development-oriented programmes.

The resignations come amid reports of increasing dissatisfaction within sections of the party. Political analysts believe the exits could embolden other disgruntled leaders and raise fresh questions about Mamata Banerjee's grip over the organisation.

For Assam and the Northeast, Sushmita Dev's resignation is likely to attract particular attention. As one of the region's most prominent women politicians and a key bridge between national and regional politics, her future political move will be closely watched.

While Dev has not yet publicly disclosed her reasons for stepping down or indicated her next political course, her resignation marks another significant chapter in the ongoing churn within the Trinamool Congress and adds to the challenges confronting the party leadership ahead of crucial political battles in the coming years.

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