Former Congress MP Sushmita Dev quits party, joins TMC

Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Debv
Sushmita Dev with Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien in Kolkata on Monday. Photo: TMC/Twitter

New Delhi: Former Congress MP Sushmita Dev quit the party on Monday and joined the Trinamool Congress of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, taking by surprise many in her former party who even went on Twitter to reach out to her.

The change in her Twitter bio to "Former Member" of the party was the first clue this morning that she had quit. Though her resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi surfaced soon, the party officially denied her exit and even the letter.

Party chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said he and other party leaders have tried to reach out to her but her phone was switched off.

"I am unable to speak to her as Sushmita ji's phone is switched off. We have tried to reach out to her. Sushmita ji is a very dear friend. She is extremely versatile, talented and capable. Sonia Gandhi ji and Rahul Gandhi ji have always appreciated it," he told reporters when asked about her resignation.

Surjewala said Dev has a generational relationship with the Congress ideology and Congress family and we treat her as a member of that family.

"I am certain that she is mature enough to take whatever political decision that she takes with an appropriate consideration of her history, her legacy as also her own capacities. I only wish her the best for her future," he said.

Shortly after quitting the party, Sushmita Dev met TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien at Banerjee's office in south Kolkata, before formally joining the party.

Dev was a national spokesperson of the Congress and the All-India Mahila Congress chief. She offered no reason for her quitting the party.

In her letter to Gandhi on Sunday, Dev said she was beginning a "new chapter in my life of public service". Dev also changed her Twitter bio to a former member of the Congress and former chief of the Mahila Congress.

She said she is resigning from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress.

"I cherish my three-decade long association with the Indian National Congress...I hope I have your good wishes as I begin a new chapter in my life of public service," she said in the letter.

Soon after her resignation, another Congress leader Kapil Sibal has, however, said the party is moving on with its "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 former union minister said on Twitter.

"The Party moves on with: Eyes Wide Shut," Sibal also said.

Dev had met the Congress president along with other leaders of the Assam Congress only on Saturday.

Her Twitter account was also temporarily blocked last week after she shared Rahul Gandhi's picture with the parents of the nine-year-old victim of alleged rape and murder in Delhi.

(With PTI and IANS inputs)

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