Mukul Roy, out of everything, including eye contact

Trinamool leaders who have been lifted by a recent party reshuffle say that it was necessary to curb Roy.

Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy on the first day of the Budget session of Parliament in New Delhi on Monday. (Source: PTI Photo)

Isolated as ever, Mukul Roy continues to attend Parliament as leader of the Trinamool Congress’s parliamentary party but with no functions. The TMC has set up an eight-member steering committee to decide its parliamentary strategy, and Roy isn’t in it.

The members are Sukhendu Shekhar Roy and Derek O’Brien (Rajya Sabha), and Kalyan Banerjee, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sougata Roy, Subrato Bakshi and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek. It will hold its first meeting Sougata Roy’s home on Thursday, followed by a dinner. Sources say Roy might not be invited.

The committee institutionalises an existing practice — it has always been this set of MPs that decided parliamentary strategy while Roy was mostly busy with organisational work.

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Awkwardness between Roy and other party MPs shows in Parliament. On Thursday, when he entered the Rajya Sabha, they didn’t make eye contact. Roy sat in the front row as the party’s leader in the Rajya Sabha. He did not stay back for the speeches of any of his party colleagues. On his way out, he looked towards chief whip Derek O’Brien, whom he always used to bid goodbye while leaving. This time he could not even catch the eye of O’Brien, who was deep in conversation with Sukhendu Shekar Roy.

Trinamool leaders who have been lifted by a recent party reshuffle, which has left Roy with a designation but without a role, say that it was necessary to curb Roy. “There were increasing complaints from people that they could not reach Mamatadi (because of Roy). I cannot talk about his future plans but the party has put in place a command structure without him,” said a party leader. “If Roy does indeed quit, we do not expect more than a handful of MLAs to follow him.” Mukul Roy’s son Shubhrangshu is an MLA.

Trinamool insiders dismiss reports that Roy’s wings are being clipped only to clear the way for the ascent of Mamata’s nephew.