TNI Bureau: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee suffered another setback as Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev resigned from both the Upper House and the party’s primary membership, becoming the second TMC Rajya Sabha MP within a week to quit the party amid growing internal dissent.

Sushmita Dev, a former Congress Lok Sabha MP from Assam’s Silchar constituency, joined the Trinamool Congress in 2021 after losing the 2019 Lok Sabha election. She later emerged as one of the party’s prominent national leaders, serving as TMC’s national spokesperson before being nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

Soon after resigning, Sushmita met Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in New Delhi, fuelling speculation that she may join the BJP. According to reports, she is also likely to contest a forthcoming Lok Sabha by-election in Assam.

In her letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan, Sushmita requested that her resignation be accepted with immediate effect.

Her exit comes just days after senior TMC leader and Rajya Sabha chief whip Sukhendu Sekhar Roy resigned from both the Rajya Sabha and the party. In a strongly worded resignation letter, Roy alleged that the people of West Bengal had rejected the TMC over corruption, women’s safety issues and failures in sectors such as education, healthcare, industry, employment and law and order.