In yet another setback to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Sushmita Dev resigned as the TMC MP from the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. She quit all TMC party posts and her Rajya Sabha position today.

Dev left the Congress after her 2019 defeat from Silchar and joined the TMC in 2021. She quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the party's national spokesperson and getting a Rajya Sabha seat.

Sushmita Dev was the most prominent face of the Trinamool's expansion into Assam. She is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India Today reported, citing sources. Soon after resigning as the Rajya Sabha MP and quitting the TMC, Dev met Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Delhi.

In a letter to Rajya Sabha chairman CP Radhakrishnan, she said, "I do hereby resign from the membership of Rajya Sabha, which may please be accepted with immediate effect." 

According to media reports, she has already submitted her resignation and apologised to Mamata before stepping down. She reportedly felt that it was no longer possible for her to pursue Assam politics either through the TMC or the Congress. 

Thus, Dev is expected to reenter the Rajya Sabha after joining the BJP. This is the second big exit from the party within a week after its Rajya Sabha chief whip Sukhendu Sekhar Roy resigned from the Upper House. 

In a strongly worded letter to Mamata Banerjee, he said that the people of Bengal "rejected the party's rampant corruption, extreme oppression of women, and its utter failure and the severe anarchy prevailing across sectors, including education, healthcare, industry, employment, and law and order."

Backing the BJP, Roy further said, "The voters have, for the first time in Bengal’s history, given the Bharatiya Janata Party a massive victory in terms of seats. The newly elected government has already begun working to implement multiple programmes for Bengal’s overall development and reconstruction, in line with its election promises."

Published on: Jun 10, 2026 12:10 PM IST