Hours after Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy said he was quitting the Trinamool Congress on Monday, the party announced that he had been suspended for six years, ANI reported. Roy said he was “forced to resign” and that he would quit the Upper House after Durga Puja on September 30.
Roy has been suspended for indulging in anti-party activities to “weaken the party”, Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said according to The Indian Express.
The Trinamool former national general secretary said he was “leaving with a heavy heart”, reported NDTV. “After five days I will explain everything,” he said when asked whether he would join the Bharatiya Janata Party. “Today, I will not say a word. I will explain everything after Durga Puja.”
He was earlier considered by many to be Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s second-in-command, but reports said he had been sidelined in recent months. Roy was removed as party general secretary in 2015, after he was on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s radar in the Saradha chit fund scam.
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party President Dilip Ghosh had said the party was open to Roy joining. “I came to know that Roy is in touch with our central leaders,” he said. “We will consider it if he wishes to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.”
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