Dev with Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O' Brien
Kolkata: Former MP and Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev who resigned from Congress joins Trinamool Congress officially. Few hours after the news of resignation jolted Congress, Dev flew to Kolkata had a one-hour meeting with Trinamool Congress All India General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee before joining TMC.
Later she went to the state secretariat at Nabanna to meet chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
In the morning, after sending her resignation to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the former Congress MP from Silchar in Assam, came to Kolkata and met Abhishek Banerjee at his South Kolkata office at 12.30 p.m. She was accompanied by Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien. Dev and Banerjee had a meeting for over one hour and after that she joined Trinamool Congress.
"I visited Kolkata this morning accompanied by Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien. I had the opportunity to meet All India Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhsishek Banerjee. We had a very, very good discussion. He has a very good vision about the party. Then, we three went to meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and had an excellent discussion. She has an excellent vision for the future of the party. I hope to be helpful in that regard," Dev said after her meeting with Mamata Banerjee.
She also said that she would be addressing a press conference in Delhi on Tuesday.
Though Dev didn't say anything about her role in the party, but sources said that Trinamool Congress is spreading its organisation outside West Bengal particularly in Assam and Tripura.
The resignation of Dev came was known in the morning when she changed her Twitter bio to "Former Member" of the Congress party. Later Congress leader and the party's women's wing chief sent her resignation letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Former Union Minister, the late Santosh Mohan Dev's daughter's resignation came two days after she met Sonia Gandhi and former party chief Rahul Gandhi along with the newly appointed Assam Congress team in the national capital.
Senior party leaders are of the opinion that when Trinamool Congress is trying to spread its organisation in other parts of the country particularly in the northeastern states of Assam and Tripura, Dev's joining Trinamool Congress will help in strengthening the party base in these areas.
"She has been an MP from Silchar in Assam and a good leader with a political background. This will help Trinamool Congress a lot. She might become the face of Trinamool Congress in Assam and Tripura," a senior party leader said.
Ahead of the Assam assembly polls, there were rumors that Dev was quitting the party. However, she rejected the charges of leaving the party then. In the last few days, Assam Congress has been witnessing desertions.