TMC Crisis Deepens as Sushmita Dev Resigns, Days After Sukhendu Sekhar Ray’s Exit

The Trinamool Congress faces a parliamentary exodus as Sushmita Dev steps down from the Rajya Sabha, fueling speculation of a major political realignment within the party.

The corridors of Parliament are echoing with the sound of a crumbling internal structure for the Trinamool Congress (TMC). On Wednesday, Sushmita Dev, a prominent national face of the party, formally submitted her resignation as a Rajya Sabha MP to Chairman CP Radhakrishnan. Her departure comes just 48 hours after veteran lawmaker Sukhendu Sekhar Ray quit both the party and the Upper House, citing a deep-seated rot of corruption and governance failures. For a party that has built its brand on defiance, these back-to-back exits signify a tectonic shift in its legislative stability.

Dev, the daughter of Congress stalwart Santosh Mohan Dev, joined the TMC in 2021 after a long stint with the Congress. Her exit is particularly jarring because she was the architect of the party’s expansion strategy in Assam. Speaking briefly after her resignation, she offered a cryptic explanation for her sudden move: "I don't want to be in two boats." While she has sought a period of reflection, reports of her meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma immediately following her resignation have triggered intense speculation that she is poised to join the BJP and re-enter the Upper House as a saffron-party nominee.

A Party Under Siege

The timing of these resignations could not be worse for the TMC leadership. The party is already grappling with an unprecedented rebellion in the West Bengal assembly, where as many as 61 MLAs have reportedly backed a rival faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee. This internal splintering is mirrored in the Lok Sabha, where a group of nearly 20 MPs has reportedly petitioned Speaker Om Birla to be recognized as a distinct bloc, effectively distancing themselves from the party’s central command.

The loss of senior leaders like Ray and Dev strips the party of its most articulate voices in the Rajya Sabha. Ray, in his parting salvo, pointed to the "rampant corruption" and "extreme oppression of women" as reasons for his departure, signaling that the dissatisfaction within the ranks has moved beyond mere politics into a fundamental rejection of the party’s current trajectory.

Why It Matters: The Bigger Picture

This is more than a string of resignations; it is a crisis of cohesion. For the TMC, the departure of high-profile leaders like Sushmita Dev suggests that the party’s central authority is losing its grip on both its legislative and organizational wings. If the rebellion among the 20 Lok Sabha MPs gains momentum, the party risks losing its status as a unified force in national politics.

The BJP, meanwhile, stands to benefit significantly from this churn. With the assembly numbers in their favor, the ruling party is expected to sweep the upcoming by-elections for the two vacant Rajya Sabha seats. As the TMC grapples with these defections, the underlying message is clear: the post-election landscape in West Bengal and Delhi is undergoing a violent correction, and the party’s ability to remain a viable national alternative is being tested like never before.