Blow for BJP as Mukul Roy back in TMC fold
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice-president Mukul Roy returned to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after four years on Friday amid indications that more dissidents will follow him, dealing a body blow to BJP in a state it hoped to win two months ago.
Considered one of the architects of BJP’S rise in a state where it has traditionally struggled, Roy joined TMC at an event in Kolkata in the presence of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
“Mukul is an old boy of our family. Old is always gold,” said Banerjee as Abhishek draped shawls around Roy and his son, former legislator Subhranshu Roy, who also switched from the BJP to the TMC.
“Nobody can stay in BJP. They do not allow anyone to live with dignity and peace. Mukul was pressured and threatened
probe agencies. His health was getting affected. He will have mental peace here,” Banerjee added.
Banerjee said more BJP leaders will join TMC but added that those who “betrayed” the party won’t be considered. “Mukul did not say a word against us during the elections. The traitors who left us during the polls and helped the BJP will not be taken back,” she said.
During the election campaign, Banerjee repeatedly called her protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari, who joined BJP last year and is now the leader of opposition, a traitor. Adhikari also threw barbs at her, accusing her of communal bias and calling her “Mamata Begum”.
Sitting next to her, Roy said he never had any differences
with Banerjee. “I am happy that I have been able to come out.i can see old faces here. I am happy that Bengal will regain its old glory under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, who is a national leader,” he said.
BJP leaders said Roy’s absence will not affect them. “We congratulate Roy on his new innings in the old party. The BJP is the world’s largest political party. It is not run by a dynasty. One individual does not make any difference. This was his personal decision. Since he won the Krishnanagar North seat on a BJP ticket we hope he will resign as legislator and start with a clear conscience,” said BJP state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar.
“However, it would be an insult to Roy if someone says he was in the BJP because he was scared by probe agencies. He is not a child,” added Majumdar.
A former Union minister and Rajya Sabha member, Roy was one of the TMC’S founding members in 1998, and acted as the party’s second-in-command and top election strategist.
But he was removed as party general secretary in 2015. He finally quit in 2017 and joined the BJP, marking the first highprofile exit from TMC. At the time, Roy was named in the 2013 Saradha chit fund scam and the 2016 Narada sting operation corruption case.
Roy was credited with helping the BJP rebound from its loss in the 2016 election in which it won just three seats and post impressive performances in the 2018 village body elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha election, when the party registered its best-ever tally of 18 seats.
In the 2021 polls, Roy was named the BJP candidate from Krishnanagar Uttar amid speculation of growing differences between him and Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh. He won the seat, his first electoral victory, but the BJP lost the election to the TMC, which secured 213 seats. Subhranshu Roy also lost his constituency of Bijpur.
But on Friday, Banerjee and Roy appeared to have buried the hatchet.
“I never had differences with Mukul…,” she said.
“I never had differences with Mamata Banerjee, I don’t and never will in the future,” quipped Roy.
The development comes amid rising tensions between the BJP and the TMC.
Last month, soon after the election results were announced, violence broke out with TMC workers targeting BJP supporters and workers. Then, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested three senior TMC leaders in the 2016 Narada tapes case, sparking furious protests by Banerjee. West Bengal and the Centre also clashed after Banerjee skipped a cyclone review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Union government recalling former Bengal chief secretary and the CM refusing to release him and calling the order unconstitutional.
Since the election results were announced on May 2, several TMC turncoats have pubthe licly appealed to Banerjee to forgive them.this includes former assembly deputy speaker and Banerjee aide Sonali Guha, and former legislator Dipendu Biswas.
Speculation about Roy rose when Abhishek Banerjee called on Roy’s ailing wife Krishna in a Kolkata hospital on June 2. Hours later, Ghosh rushed to the hospital and the next day, Modi called up Roy to inquire about his wife’s health. On June 9, Roy skipped a key meeting called by Ghosh.
At Friday’s press conference, Banerjee said she will decide later on what position Roy will hold but added that he will continue working as before. She got agitated at the mention of Adhikari, who defeated Banerjee from the high-profile Nandigram seat, and ended the press conference.
“We will take back only those who did not spread bitterness,” she said.
Adhikari was in Delhi earlier this week, and met with home minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda, and the Prime Minister to discuss the post-poll violence in the state although HT learns that the issue of imminent defections from the party also figured in his conversations.