Former TMC leader Mukul Roy quits Rajya Sabha

NEW DELHI: Former Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy submitted on Wednesday his resignation from the Rajya Sabha to the vice president and house chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.

Roy urged Naidu to accept his resignation, sources close to the leader said. He would meet the media later in the day to explain the reasons for leaving the party of which he was a founder-member. Speculation is rife on whether Roy will join the BJP or form a new political outfit. “I am not saying I will join the BJP ... Only time will tell. Please wait for a few days,” he recently said.

His supporters say like Himanta Biswa Sarma, who left the ruling Congress in Assam to join the BJP that came to power in the 2016 state polls, Roy will defeat the TMC in Bengal in the coming days.

However, his detractors believe that without Mamata Banerjee (Bengal chief minister), he would be a spent force.

Roy met the BJP’s West Bengal BJP in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya at the residence of Rajya Sabha House Committee chairperson Om Mathur on Monday.

Once the second-in-command in the TMC after CM Banerjee, Roy was suspended for six years for “anti-party activities” last month.

ROY MET THE BJP’S WEST BENGAL BJP INCHARGE KAILASH VIJAYVARGIYA AT THE RESIDENCE OF RAJYA SABHA HOUSE COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON OM MATHUR ON MONDAY.