Former Congress Chief Somen Mitra's wife Sikha Mitra joins TMC

Six years after staying away from active politics, former Congress Chief (late) Somen Mitra's wife Sikha Mitra, along with some other Congress leaders, officially joined the Trinamool Congress on Sunday. Sikha Mitra is a former Trinamool MLA from Chowringhee seat in central Kolkata.

Sikha Mitra, joined Trinamool Congress along with Subhra Ghosh, another political veteran and former Congress party leader.

Mitra, after joining Trinamool Congress on Sunday, said, “I want to see Mamata Banerjee as the head of the country in Delhi. She has achieved everything through her own hard work and she is a great leader. I was with the party for a long and had stayed away for a period.”

“Mamata Banerjee loves and respects me. She called me after the death of my husband Somen Mitra. She asked me to join Trinamool Congress and I readily decided to join the party,” she added.

It is pertinent to mention that before the Bengal assembly polls, Sikha Mitra was wooed by the saffron brigade. Suvendu Adhikari had approached Mitra but she refused. “BJP is a communal party and there is a distinct ideological difference with us,” she mentioned.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Bengal Congress Chief, said joining Trinamool Congress is Sikha Mitra’s personal decision.

Sikha Mitra is wife of veteran Congress leader late Somen Mitra, who was known to be very close to former prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Mitra was Bengal Congress party chief for umpteen number of years. He was a member of the West Bengal State Assembly from 1972 to 2006.

Mitra was elected as a member of Parliament from the Diamond Harbour constituency in 2009 after he had joined Trinamool Congress. He had floated Pragatisheel Indira Congress in 2008 after leaving Congress in the interim period, before joining Trinamool Congress. He rejoined his old party in January 2014, after resigning from the post of the MP.

After Sushmita Dev from Assam, who recently joined Trinamool, this is a second big blow to the Congress party in the state.