Just days ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections, All India Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mausam Noor suddenly returned to the Indian National Congress.
Noor, whose term in the Rajya Sabha is set to end in April, is widely expected to contest the upcoming Assembly polls from Malda. The 46-year-old remains one of Malda’s most recognisable political faces, having served as a two-time Lok Sabha MP from the constituency between 2009 and 2019 on a Congress ticket.
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Mausam Noor explains why she switched
Mausam completed the formalities at the Congress headquarters in Delhi. Notably, just three days earlier, the Trinamool Congress had appointed her coordinator of four Assembly constituencies in Malda.
During a ceremony at the Congress headquarters, senior party leaders Jairam Ramesh, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, and Shubhankar Sarkar welcomed her.
Mausam made it clear that she has already informed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of her decision. “I thank the Congress for accepting me. We are the Congress family. I was at the grassroots for a few years, and I got many opportunities to work. But as a family, I have decided to work together again. Secularism, development and peace are the mantras of the Congress. I will work in the way that the responsibility is given to me,” she said in front of the reporters.
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BJP’s Avra Sen downplays Mausam Noor's switch
When asked about the repercussions of Mausam Noor joining Congress ahead of the 2026 West Bengal election, BJP leader Avra Sen told News Ei Samay, "It really does not matter if someone joins the Congress camp from Trinamool Congress before the West Bengal elections. We believe that the people of Bengal know the backstory behind every political ballgame, and I am sure the mandate will be with the Bharatiya Janata Party this time, regardless of these minor party-switching."
Mausam was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Malda North in 2009 on a Congress ticket and retained the seat in 2014. Then, in 2019, she left Congress to contest as a Trinamool candidate. She lost the seat in a three-cornered contest, paving the way for the BJP’s Khagen Murmu after votes were split.
