Sidelined TMC leader Mukul Roy quits Roy is no longer in Didi’s good books
her former trusted general in the party.
“This is the time of the puja and none will be interested in petty politics. So I shall explain my decision in detail later,” he said, adding that he will spend the next few days celebrating Puja.
On September 20, Roy, who got Z category security, refused the security he was entitled to.
On Sunday, he went to the inauguration of a Durga puja that is identified with Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh, who was suspended by the party after he spoke out against the CM in the Saradha scam.
He also described party secretary general Partha Chatterjee as “juvenile”.
The 63-year-old’s importance in the party stemmed from the fact that he was responsible for expanding and managing the organisation both in Bengal and beyond it.
Roy not only had the ears of the chief minister, but also was known as a troubleshooter.
When Banerjee stepped down as the rail minister from UPA I government to contest the assembly elections from Bhawanipore, Roy was chosen to replace her. He was the railway minister from March 20, 2012 to September 21, 2012.
On Monday, Roy also led a veiled attack on Banerjee.
“No individual can claim credit for guarding the liberal character of Bengal and its accommodative attitude towards minorities,” he said.
Roy’s son Subhrangshu is also a TMC MLA from Bijpur constituency from North 24 Parganas district. He first won in 2011 and was re-elected in 2016.
It remains to be seen whether he, too, resigns from the party.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha legislator Mukul Roy, who announced his resignation from the party on Monday, now has everyone guessing about his next move. But the 63-year-year-old offered only a teaser.
“I shall spell it out just after the puja,” he said.
Roy was the undisputed number two in Trinamool Congress merely two-and-a-half years ago. He was, however, reduced to a position where he would have to report to someone who once was his junior.
How could anybody continue in this manner, asked a minister, explaining why Roy, who helped chief minister Mamata Banerjee set up the party, decided to quit Trinamool Congress.
Party secretary general and education minister Partha Chatterjee indicated Roy took the decision as he was facing pressure from central investigative agencies. “Over the past few years, he was trying to weaken the party. He came under pressure from central investigative agencies and started hobnobbing with BJP leaders,” said Chatterjee.
Whatever the immediate reason, the rift between Roy and Banerjee was widening for quite some time.
On January 30, 2015, Roy was questioned by the CBI for his alleged involvement in the Saradha scam. It is widely believed that he avoided arrest by parting with information about Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP and Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
Roy was removed from the position of the party general secretary in 2015. In December the same year, he was believed to be instrumental in floating the Nationalist Trinamool Congress party, which was later merged with Trinamool Congress.
Roy was increasingly sidelined in the party since then. However, before the 2016 assembly elections, he was reinstated as a vice-president of the party. On September 4, Roy was dropped from the parliamentary consultative committee of Union home ministry and TMC Rajya Sabha member Manish Gupta replaced him. On September 17, Banerjee abolished the post of Trinamool vice-president, a position held by Roy. He returned the Z category security provided to him on September 20.
Roy was crucial in managing and expanding the party. A master strategist, he also succeeded in keeping the Modi wave in 2014 Lok Sabha polls away from Bengal. TMC swept the assembly polls, winning 211 of the 294 seats but Roy’s proximity to the chief minister was never restored. A leader close to Roy said much will depend on whether he joins the BJP or floats his own forum.
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