Disgruntled Mukul Roy pushes for bigger role in BJP

‘If he doesn’t get a respectable position, Roy may go back to Trinamool Congress’.

The South Avenue area of New Delhi, which houses Members of Parliament, witnessed increased activities last week, with a group of BJP leaders from West Bengal congregating there for a meeting. The meeting was held at the house of a senior party leader and went on until 2 am.

The topic of discussion, apart from how to dislodge the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government, also discussed how to strike a good bargain for certain leaders, including Mukul Roy, who joined the

Bharatiya Janata Party after deserting the TMC.

Supporters of Roy, according to Delhi-based party functionaries, have set a deadline to get a “respectable” position for him within the BJP, failing which Roy is likely to look at “other options” including going back to the TMC.

These supporters feel that Roy has not been given a position matching his stature in the BJP despite joining the party in November 2017 and this delay has gone on for far “too long”.

The Roy camp, according to these sources, is pushing for the post of Union Minister for Roy in the much awaited Cabinet reshuffle that is likely to take place mid-august, for which he will have to enter the Rajya Sabha. More importantly he needs a “free hand” while selecting candidates for the upcoming May 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections. This “free hand”, according to sources in the Roy camp, is the first step towards Roy pushing for the chair of Chief Minister in case the BJP manages to come to power in Bengal post May 2021.

However, senior West Bengal BJP leaders, led by party president Dilip Ghosh, who have been with the BJP all through their careers, are averse to Roy being given the reins of the party in the state as they feel that making him the face of the party and giving him more power will dent BJP’S image considering the “taint” that he carries. “The Narada and Sarada scams are still fresh on the minds of the voters and workers; Roy was the right-hand man of Mamata Banerjee for decades, all this cannot vanish in a matter of a couple of years. The BJP has already given him a lot, he should learn to wait,” a close associate of Ghosh told The Sunday Guardian while commenting on Roy’s deadline.