Trinamool set to dump Mukul, make Derek leader of party in RS

Letter sent to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari informing him of the change.

4 min readNew DelhiFeb 28, 2015 01:38 AM IST First published on: Feb 28, 2015 at 01:38 AM IST

Mukul Roy’s son Subhrangshu seeks blessings from Mamata Banerjee at the Assembly on Friday. (Source: Subham Dutta)

The Trinamool Congress is set to announce Derek O’Brien’s name as the leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha and do away with the post of chairman of the Parliamentary party, further alienating its Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy.

The decision was taken within hours of Roy meeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament. It is likely to be formally announced after a meeting of party MPs with Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Saturday. However, the eight-member steering committee of the party that met on Thursday night was not in the know of the decision till late on Friday.

“In each House, there are only two constitutional posts — the leader of the party in that House and the chief whip. There is nothing called a chairman of the Parliamentary party. It is an internal designation. Derek O’Brien will now be the leader in Rajya Sabha. We will announce the changes after Saturday’s meeting,” said a senior TMC leader.

A letter has already been sent to Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari informing him about the change. The former quiz master has emerged as a key Trinamool negotiator and speaker over the past few months, ensuring floor coordination with other opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha to corner the government on many issues.

Roy refused to comment on the changes, reiterating that the chairman of the Parliamentary party has little relevance in the overall scheme of things. “It is the prerogative of the party,” he said. He also defended his meeting with Jaitley.

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However, he did take on Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and the man whose ascent is often linked to his own fall from grace. He regretted the decision to remove MP Subhendu Adhikari as the head of the Trinamool youth wing, a post that subsequently went to Abhishek. “I was a part of that decision but in hindsight, that was not a good one,” Roy said.

Incidentally, though his party has gone on the offensive over the Rail Budget, Roy “welcomed the fact that the common man has not been burdened by an increase in passenger fare”. However, he said he was speaking as a former railway minister and not on behalf of the TMC.

Though on paper he still remains the general secretary of the All India Trinamool Congress, Roy has been stripped of all party responsibilities and is being cold shouldered by party colleagues in Parliament. On Thursday evening, all Trinamool MPs met at Sougata Roy’s residence for dinner but Roy was not invited. He has also been left out of the steering committee that the party has formed to decide Parliamentary strategy. Roy has studiously avoided any meeting with Banerjee since the reshuffle earlier this month, during which his wings were clipped.

Though the meeting with Jaitley on Thursday — the first one Roy has had with a senior BJP leader — led to speculation that Roy and his son, Bijpur MLA Subhrangshu, are on their way to joining the BJP, Roy has dismissed it. “I am not announcing anything any time soon. Maybe I will have something to say sometime in March or April. I am under no pressure. Why should I be when I am getting so many calls every day from people pledging their support?” he said.