Kolkata: Hours after Mukul Roy took the oath of allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee distanced herself from her former confidante, saying it was her “personal decision”. .
Roy returned to the TMC after the 2021 Bengal election results were declared in May that year, but did not resign as MLA from Krishnanagar North, which he had won as a BJP candidate.
“If someone goes to Delhi, Mumbai or Punjab, it is their personal decision. He (Roy) is still a BJP MLA. But I came to know from the news that his son has filed a missing report. So, the administration is checking to make sure that he is fine and his health is in good shape. I have nothing more to say. It is his personal choice,” Mamata said at a media briefing at the state secretariat on Wednesday.
In Delhi, Roy also claimed that he never changed his allegiance to the TMC. “I was always with the BJP, and if they offer me work, I will be with the party. There is no question of resigning from TMC. I’m not even a part of it. I had already resigned from TMC.
The former Railway Minister also claimed that he spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the telephone and said that he wanted to meet BJP President JP Nadda to work for the BJP once again.
However, no one from the BJP responded to Roy’s statement, except Nandigram MLA and Leader of the Opposition Shubhendu Adhikari, who said the party was neither interested nor in touch with the former railway minister.
We are working on strengthening the party at the booth level. The party is working to bring non-BJP voters into its fold. We do not need to include any leader, especially those who have been rejected.
Events suddenly came after Roy “disappeared” From his office in Kolkata on Monday evening, he can be seen at Delhi’s IGI airport only hours later. Meanwhile, his son Subhranshu Roy reached the police station at the Kolkata airport to lodge a missing complaint about his father.
Subhranshu claimed that his father was not keeping well and had undergone brain surgery, and said that he had no money to buy an airline ticket. He said that this whole episode is a conspiracy to defame TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
But, Mukul Roy contradicted his son’s statement in Delhi, saying that he may not have informed his family before going to Delhi, but his health is fine and he wants to work for the BJP.
Roy had undergone brain surgery in March, said TMC Rajya Sabha MP Shantanu Sen, commenting on his medical condition.
“After the surgery, he was diagnosed with dementia among other health problems. But there are political leaders who have credibility. No one knows why Mukul Roy is saying all this. He probably wants to save himself from (central) agencies and hence wants to join hands with the BJP once again,’ Sen told ThePrint.
Roy had differences with Mamta after her name cropped up in the Narada and Saradha scams. Subsequently, he joined the BJP in November 2017 and was made the national vice-president of the party.
But after the elections, in June 2021, he returned to TMC in the presence of Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee at the Trinamool headquarters in Kolkata. But, Roy has not been seen actively participating in politics since his return to the ruling party in Bengal.
(Edited by Tony Rae)