Sushmita Dev, who resigned from the Congress earlier in the day, joined the Trinamool Congress in the presence of party leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien in Kolkata.
In her resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the former Assam MP is said to have written that she was beginning a “new chapter in my life of public service”. Dev had sent her resignation letter to Gandhi on Sunday, though senior Congress functionaries refuted the same even as they wished her well.
Dev was currently serving as a national spokesperson of the Congress and chief of the All-India Mahila Congress chief. Dev had offered no reason for her quitting the party.
Welcoming Dev, the Trinamool Congress wrote on Twitter, the former senior Congress functionary was inspired by party supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Riding high on the success of the bitterly fought West Bengal Assembly election, the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC is looking to expand its footprint beyond the state and has been scouting for talent nationwide, besides making all attempts to its presence felt in states like Tripura and elsewhere.
Activist and anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protestor Akhil Gogoi recently said the Bengal ruling camp had approached him to merge his Raijor Dal with TMC and lead the party in Assam.
RTI activist Saket Gokhale, a staunch critic of the Narendra Modi government, also joined the Trinamool Congress last week.
The Bengal CM has also been busy stitching a united opposition alliance as aspires a national role to counter the BJP and it remains to be seen how the likely allies like the Congress accepts some of her latest moves.
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