Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mukul Roy on Friday rejoined the Trinamool Congress after quitting the party in 2017. His son Subhrangshu Roy also joined the party. The two leaders were inducted into Trinamool Congress at a press conference, attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the party’s General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and others.
In October 2017, Roy had resigned from the Rajya Sabha and all posts in the Trinamool Congress, and joined the BJP. He was also made the national vice president of the saffron party.
“I congratulate Mukul Roy on coming back to the party fold,” Mamata Banerjee said. “He is one of our own and and has now come back to the party he belongs to. He was forced to join the BJP by intimidating him with threats of action from central agencies.”
Mukul Roy is one of the accused in the Narada bribery case that the Central Bureau of Investigation is currently probing. The investigating agency has, however, said that it did not have the necessary permission to initiate probe against Mukul Roy and three other leaders.
Meanwhile, at the press conference, Mukul Roy said that he was happy to meet colleagues from his old party. “I feel proud to say that Bengal will regain its status under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership,” he added. The former Union minister said he will issue a written statement on why he quit the BJP and rejoined Trinamool Congress.
Both Banerjee and Roy indicated that more leaders were expected to break ranks from the BJP and join Trinamool. However, they did not divulge any names.
In an apparent reference to Suvendu Adhikari, Mamata Banerjee said that the party will not take back anybody who has “insulted” Trinamool Congress.
“There are moderates and there are extremists,” the chief minister said. “If you remember Mukul Roy did not say anything to hurt the Trinamool Congress during the [West Bengal] Assembly elections. We will not accept any extremists who have insulted the party.”
Earlier in the day, Mukul Roy had told reporters he was going to the Trinamool headquarters, triggering speculations that he would join the party. Unidentified party officials had told NDTV said that Roy was feeling “suffocated” in the BJP.
Before joining the BJP, Roy was suspended from the Trinamool Congress for six years on September 25, 2017, for allegedly indulging in anti-party activities. A former Union railway minister, he was removed as the party general secretary in 2015, after the Central Bureau of Investigation began to look into his involvement in the Saradha chit fund scam.
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