The Trinamool Congress is likely to give a leadership role to Sushmita Dev in Tripura and other northeastern states.
Former Lok Sabha MP and All India Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev quit the Congress party and joined the Trinamool on Monday.
TMC Subal Bhowmik said that Dev joining the party is a very big development which will further boost the party’s efforts to fight the ruling BJP in Tripura.
“Dev’s late father Santosh Mohan Dev was a tall leader of the Congress, who was instrumental in installing the Congress-led government in Tripura in 1988. Santosh Dev was elected to the Lok Sabha from Tripura twice (1989 and 1991), besides getting elected for five times from Silchar in Assam,” Bhowmik said.
Bhowmik along with several other Congress leaders had recently jumped ship to the TMC.
He claimed that Dev joining Trinamool would further strengthen the hands of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Bhowmik said Banerjee is the most formidable leader to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Earlier in the day, the Trinamool said in a tweet: “We warmly welcome the former President of All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev to our Trinamool family! Inspired by Mamata (Banerjee), she joins us today in the presence of our National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and Parliamentary Party Leader, Rajya Sabha, Derek O’ Brien”.
Several photographs were tagged in Trinamool’s Twitter handle showing Banerjee welcoming Dev into the party.
After meeting Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat Nabanna in Kolkata, Dev told the media that she would disclose her political strategy in Delhi on Tuesday.
Trinamool sources in Agartala said that party leaders, accompanied by Sushmita Dev, are likely to formally announce the party’s organisational structure in Tripura and its next course of action on Monday or Tuesday.