'Section of Cong, AIUDF in Assam hand in glove with BJP'

Kolkata: Accusing a section of the Congress and AIUDF of being in cahoots with the BJP in Assam, TMC leader Sushmita Dev has said there is a "vacuum" in the opposition space in the state and the Northeast which her new party can fill.

Dev, who was one of the national spokespersons of the Congress and its women's wing chief, switched over to the TMC last week.

She feels her joining the TMC will not come in the way of an alliance between the two parties at the national level as "politics is not about charity". She said the Congress, too, is inducting people from other parties.

"It is indeed a big change and step in my thirty-year-old political career. Politics is also about being relevant and serving the people. Certain decisions that the Congress took in the greater interest of the party had a negative impact in the area from where I come. I had felt that if we lose the 2021 election, we won't have the face to ask the electorate to vote for us again,"

Dev told the news agency in an interview.

The former Congress MP from Assam's Silchar questioned the "intent" of the Congress and opposition parties like the AIUDF of fighting against the BJP in Assam and

the Northeast.

"We allied in Assam to defeat the BJP. But what was demoralising was that after we lost the elections, several leaders of Congress, AIUDF and some other opposition parties started praising the chief minister. A section of leaders of these opposition parties is hand in gloves with Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam CM).

"My question is if the mainstream opposition parties have joined hands with the BJP, then where is the opposition in Assam. Who will oppose the anti-people policies of the BJP?" she asked.