Veteran Indian politician Mukul Roy had a ghar wapsi or home-return as he re-joined TMC after serving as the BJP National Vice President for less than a year. The development comes a day after Jitin Prasada from Uttar Pradesh left the Congress party for the BJP claiming that it is “the only real political party”. On Roy’s arrival TMC leader and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, that more leaders will follow Roy.
Background
Since the past few weeks, the political rumor mills were rife with the speculations of West Bengal based MLA Mukul Roy re-joining the TMC. The speculation was almost confirmed after it was reported that Roy had come to the Trinamool Bhawan to meet with CM Mamata Banerjee, and other senior TMC leaders. Earlier, TMC registered a dominating victory over the BJP in the recent WB Assembly Elections. However, Roy had won the seat on his constituency as a BJP candidate, he chose to part ways after the latter lost the elections.
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Details
After Roy’s induction to the party, TMC leader Mamata Banerjee spoke to the news media where she said how Roy returned back to his roots. She also claimed that Roy could not efficiently worked in the BJP and even after being made the party vice-president, he was unsatisfied. She also shared that Roy will continue playing the same role in TMC as he did before he left the party.
“Mukul Roy has returned to his roots today. He could not work in the BJP. During election, he did not make any anti-TMC statements. He has found peace by returning to his former party. He was made the national vice-president of the BJP, but he was not satisfied with the work. Mukul will continue to play the same role in our party which he used to play earlier,”
-said the West Bengal Chief Minister.
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“No one can remain in BJP in the present condition”: Roy
Mukul Roy also issued a statement which said-
“It feels good to see my former colleagues here. Bengal will restore its glory under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. I will issue a written statement on why I left the BJP. Under the present condition, no one can remain in the BJP.”
Mukul Roy’s Political Journey
For the uninitiated, Roy’s return to TMC may not appear significant. The 67-year-old political veteran has been accustomed to all the parties and has been the most influence yielding political figures to have come from West Bengal after Mamata Banerjee. The man’s reach went so far that even Mamata Banerjee pressurized the Congress led government to appoint Roy as the railways minister back in 2012.
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Starting as a Congress leader, Co-Founder of the Trinamool Congress
At a young age, Roy became an ally to Banerjee when both the future political leaders were associated to the Youth Congress. After Banerjee exited from Congress, she laid the foundations of All India Trinamool Congress and she had Roy’s support in the endeavor.
Roy was then made Trinamool’s face and after climbing political rungs, he earned a seat at the Rajya Sabha and was also appointed as Trinamool’s General Secretary.
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Subsequent Falling Out with Banerjee and the Narada Scam
After having each other’s backs for decades, the duo had a falling out in 2015. The reason of the disagreement was Roy’s name being mentioned in the Narada sting operation. Roy was seen in the sting operation to be taking bride. After the scandal, Roy was banished from TMC.
Aligning with the BJP
In 2017, Roy formally associated himself with the BJP. Prior to that, he also resigned from his position from Rajya Sabha. Roy was reportedly roped by the BJP to build a strong party base in West Bengal. The ‘Chanakya’ of West Bengal political landscape is often credited with BJP’s 2018 Lok Sabha victory.
The differences with BJP started emerging before the 2021 heated Assembly Elections in the state. Although he was credited to have helped BJP win the Lok Sabha elections, it was Suvendu Adhikari who was appointed by the BJP as the opposition leader. After the TMC landslide victory, Roy ended up not attending multiple party meetings, which fueled the rumors further.
