Mukul quits RS, TMC; silent about future plans

Says opposed to dynastic politics whether in West Bengal or country

Rebel Trinamul Congress leader Mukul Roy quit the party as well as his Rajya Sabha seat on Wednesday, but refused to spell out future plans, that may include joining the BJP or floating his own party.

“I have not yet decided to join any party or float a party,” Mr Roy said while addressing the media after quitting his Rajya Sabha seat.

The senior leader, who announced his decision to quit the party before Durga Puja, made snide remarks about Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee, saying he was opposed to dynastic politics at all levels.

He met Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu to submit his resignation on Wednesday, saying he was quitting with a heavy heart.

Rebel Trinamul Congress (TMC) leader Mukul Roy on Wednesday quit the party as well as his Rajya Sabha seat, but refused to spell out his future plans which include joining the BJP or floating his own party.

“I have not yet decided to join any party or float a party,” Mr Roy said addressing the media here after quitting his Rajya Sabha seat.

The senior leader, who had announced his decision of quitting the party before the Durga Puja, passed snide remarks at TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, saying he was opposed to dynastic politics at all levels whether in West Bengal or the country.

He met Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu to submit his resignation on Wednesday saying that he was quitting with a heavy heart.

Questioned on his plans of joining the BJP, he said that since the TMC was formed, the party had always aligned with the BJP and had even been part of the NDA government at the Centre.

The senior leader said that it was only now that Ms Banerjee feels that the country cannot run without

If Ms Banerjee feels that the country cannot run without the Congress... My point is that if this is the case then the TMC should merge with the Congress.

— Mukul Roy, TMC ex-leader

the Congress. “My point is that if this is the case then the party should merge with the Congress.”

He also took potshots at “dynasty” in the TMC, saying all members in a party “should be comrades and not servants”.

Speculation is rife that Mr Roy was planning to float his own outfit to join hands with the BJP in the state.

Addressing the media here, he said that in 1998 when the TMC had a seatsharing arrangement with the saffron party in West Bengal, its leadership had said that BJP is not communal.

Mr Roy has been unhappy since 2015 when he was removed from the post of all-India general secretary of the TMC for his alleged role in the Saradha chit fund scam following which he had floated the Nationalist Trinamul Congress. But in the next year itself, he made an emphatic comeback as the Trinamul Congress vicepresident in the run-up to the Assembly polls in 2016.

When he returned as the TMC vice-president, the party floated by him remained dormant for the last two years. Mr Banerjee had recently removed Mr Roy as the party’s observer for Tripura, where Congress-turned-TMC MLAs have joined the BJP.