Sushmita Dev to join Trinamool Congress? Ex-Congress MP to meet party top brass today

Having resigned from the primary membership of the Congress party, Sushmita Dev is likely to join Trinamool Congress very soon, sources told Republic TV. Later on Monday, she is scheduled to meet top TMC leaders such as West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata. As per sources, she is eyeing to change her political base from Assam to Tripura. An MLA from 2011, she 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. 

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". Dev added, "I hope I have your good wishes as I begin a new chapter in my life of public service".

As early as March, speculation was rife that Dev 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. Meanwhile, her victorious opponent Rajdeep Roy confirmed that she is not joining BJP. After the Congress-led Mahajot alliance failed to win the Assam Assembly polls, two of its MLAs- Sushanta Borgohain and Rupjyoti Kurmi resigned and switched their allegiance to BJP.

Congress suffers setback in Assam polls

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.