Big blow for Congress as Sushmita Dev joins TMC after Assam Assembly poll debacle

In a massive blow to the Congress party on Monday, former parliamentarian Sushmita Dev joined TMC in the presence of Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien. This comes after she met the Diamond Harbour MP at the latter's office at the Camac Street in Kolkata a few minutes earlier. Mentioning that she was inspired by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, TMC's official Twitter handle stated, "We warmly welcome the former President of All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev to our Trinamool family". 

An MLA from 2011, Dev was elected to the Lok Sabha in the 2014 General Election from Silchar. However, the All India Mahila Congress chief suffered a shocking defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls at the hands of BJP's Rajdeep Roy. As early as March, speculation was rife that she is set to leave Congress. This was owing to the fact that she differed from the Congress stance and backed the Citizenship Amendment Act citing that people in the Barak Valley are in its favour. 

Moreover, she sparked a row by refusing to wear the 'no CAA' gamosa while sharing a stage with top Congress leaders. In her resignation letter sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on August 15, she stated, "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 a part of my memorable journey". As per sources, she was miffed because of Congress' performance in the Assam Assembly polls.

BJP re-elected in Assam

In a blow for BJP in the lead-up to the 2021 Assembly election, its ally Bodoland People's Front (BPF) decided to join the Congress-led alliance. On the other hand, Congress formed a grand alliance with BPF, AGM, AIUDF, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), RJD and JPP. However, the opposition tie-up proved to be no match for NDA as the latter managed to retain power in the state.

As part of the ruling alliance, BJP, AGP and UPPL won 60, 9 and 6 seats respectively. As far as Mahajot is concerned, Congress secured 29 seats followed by AIUDF, BPF and CPI(M) whose candidates won in 16, 4 and 1 constituencies respectively. Most of the prominent candidates including CM Sarbananda Sonowal, Himanta Biswa Sarma and AGP president Atul Bora won their seats with a convincing margin. On May 10, Sarma was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Assam at a ceremony attended by BJP president JP Nadda and other key leaders.