About 1,000 political workers, leaders set to join Assam TMC in presence of Abhishek Banerjee

GUWAHATI: About a thousand workers and leaders from regional and national parties are expected to join the Assam TMC on Wednesday in the presence of party national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee.
Assam unit president of TMC, Ripun Bora, told TOI on Tuesday that the exodus of leaders and workers would be from the Aam Aadmi Party, Assam Jatiya Parishad and Raijor Dal, as also from the BJP and Congress. The Trinamool is revamping the party in Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“For the Assam TMC this will be the biggest exodus of workers and leaders. Our prime focus is to build the TMC with the support of leaders who are going to boost our party,” said Bora.
He, however, said the Congress is expected to be the biggest loser as most of the workers joining the party would be from the Congress. Bora himself is a former president of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee. Apart from him, Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev and former Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma are the two most prominent faces from the Congress in the northeast to join the TMC in recent times.
While Sushmita Dev has been entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the party affairs in Tripura, TMC sources said Sangma will help in expanding the party base in the tribal belt of Assam, close to the Meghalaya border.
“Sushmita’s father and veteran Congress leader, Santosh Mohan Dev, was elected from the Tripura West constituency to the Lok Sabha twice. Likewise, Sangma is popular among the tribals of Assam, especially among the Garos in lower Assam. Both of them will help in the growth of the party,” a source said.
Reacting to the TMC’s poaching tactics, Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah said, “The TMC is a West Bengal-based party. Why would Assam endorse it?”
He went on to add that Ripun Bora could not steer the ship of a well-established party like the Congress, so he is not going to succeed in building the Trinamool from zero in a politically complex state like Assam.