Mamata readies TMC without Mukul
SARADHA SPECTRE West Bengal chief minister strips Roy of all the organisational assignments
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee virtually brought an end to the Mukul Roy- era in the party on Saturday by stripping the all-India general secretary of all organisational assignments and distributing the same among party leaders.
However, Roy still retains his post in the party.
The decisions came after Banerjee held a meeting at her Kalighat residence where Roy was conspicuous by his absence.
The CM inducted the party’s Bengal president and Lok Sabha member Subrata Bakshi as TMC’s all-India additional general secretary. She not only inducted Dinesh Trivedi as allIndia vice-president but also entrusted him with the task of holding alliance talks, an assignment solely handled by Roy so far.
“Our party chief was unhappy that Roy was absent from the meeting. She said she has already taken up party responsibilities,” said a senior TMC leader.
“Subrata Bakshi is the founder state president of the party and will now be additional
general secretary,” announced Partha Chatterjee, party secretary general.
Banerjee brought in Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Lok Sabha MP; Derek O’ Brien, Rajya Sabha MP and Firhad Hakim, state urban development minister, to the national secretariat team.
Derek O’ Brien is now incharge of N-E affairs.
Subrata Mukherjee, state rural development minister and Suvendu Adhikari, Lok Sabha MP, were given responsibilities of Tripura and Assam respectively.
Reacting to the development, Roy told a media channel, “When Trinamool was born, I was the party’s general secretary. Now the party has become bigger. What has happened is for the good. The leader of the party will now take all the responsibilities.”
CBI sources revealed that Roy could be treated as a witness in the Saradha scam case where he has allegedly spilled the beans against TMC party bigwigs.
The agency is expected to file a charge sheet by March 12.