Sushmita Dev, who on Monday joined Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC), hailed the West Bengal chief minister, who, she said, has an “excellent future vision for the party.”
“I arrived at Kolkata this morning accompanied by honourable Member of Parliament Derek O’Brien. I had the opportunity to meet Abhishek Banerjee, the TMC general secretary. We had a very good discussion. After that, all three of us, we went to meet the chief minister at her office. We had an excellent decision. Clearly, she has an excellent future vision for the party, and I hope to be helpful in that regard,” Dev says in a video clip shared by her new party on its Twitter handle. “I will address a press meet tomorrow in Delhi and answer questions on any details anyone may want,” she added.
“Will give it all I have got. @MamataOfficial #KhelaHobe,” the now-former Congress leader said in an earlier tweet, thanking the TMC for welcoming her. Dev, a former Lok Sabha MP from Assam’s Silchar, resigned from the Congress on Sunday, writing to interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and informing her of the decision. “I cherish my three decade long association with the Indian National Congress. I thank you personally for the guidance and opportunities you gave me,” the former MP wrote.
Dev is the second major name to have jumped from the Congress to the TMC in recent days. In July, Abhijit Mukherjee, the son of former president Pranab Mukherjee, jumped ship to West Bengal’s ruling party which, following its victory in the recently held assembly elections, is reportedly eyeing bigger role in national politics. In June, the party welcomed back Mukul Roy from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). More recently, it sent former Prasar Bharat CEO Jawahar Sircar to the Rajya Sabha and also recruited RTI activist Saket Gokhale.
