The internal collapse within the Trinamool Congress (TMC) accelerated dramatically as prominent Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev resigned from both the upper house of Parliament and the primary membership of the party on Wednesday, June 10, 2026. Dev’s exit marks the second high-profile parliamentary resignation for the party in less than forty-eight hours, directly following veteran leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray’s decision to step down on Monday. The rapid succession of departures highlights a severe, ongoing existential crisis for Mamata Banerjee’s party following its crushing defeat in the recent West Bengal Assembly elections.
The 53-year-old leader, who originally crossed over to the TMC from the Congress in 2021, submitted her formal resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan. Breaking her silence on the decision, the daughter of late Union Minister Santosh Mohan Dev explained that her primary focus has always been Assam politics, making it increasingly impractical to remain tied to a regional Bengal-centric party. “Even out of my love, loyalty, and respect for Mamata di, if I continued in the TMC, I didn’t see a way of how I could work in Assam,” Dev stated. She rejected allegations of political opportunism, emphasizing that as a career politician, she needed to adapt to the ground realities of her home state to avoid becoming irrelevant.
Within hours of tendering her resignation, Dev traveled to New Delhi to hold a candid meeting with Assam Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma. While she stopped short of confirming an immediate switch to the saffron camp, Dev admitted that she approached Sarma for political “guidance” in these highly uncertain times, confirming that formal communication channels between them have officially opened. She also firmly dismissed suggestions that any pressure from federal investigative agencies influenced her exit, clarifying that she faces absolutely no criminal cases or allegations.
Dev’s abrupt departure comes at a catastrophic moment for the TMC high command, which is currently battling a widespread, multi-layered mutiny. In the lower house of Parliament, a rebel faction of 20 Lok Sabha MPs—led by veteran leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar—has officially requested separate seating arrangements from the Speaker, preparing to claim ownership of the party while signaling outside support to the NDA. Simultaneously, the party is fracturing on the ground in Bengal, where 64 MLAs have already broken away into a dissident legislative bloc under Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee. With Dev’s exit reducing the TMC’s strength in the Rajya Sabha to just 11 seats, the party’s institutional footprint in New Delhi is rapidly dissolving.
