Mukul says want to be with BJP, Suvendu spurns: Not interested

Earlier in the day, Roy, who reached Delhi a day ago, told a TV news channel that he would like to meet BJP president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. “I was always with the BJP and I will remain with the party if they offer me work. There is no question of resigning from the TMC. I am not even a part of it. I have already resigned from TMC,” said Roy.

When asked why he came to Delhi without informing his family, Roy said, “I am free to go anywhere. I have heard that a missing complaint was lodged. But it is a family matter and will be resolved. I am a BJP MLA. I want to be with the BJP. The party has made arrangements for my stay here. I want to meet Amit Shah and speak to JP Nadda.”

“I was not keeping well for quite some time, so I was away from politics. But right now, I am fine and will be active in politics again,” he added.

The BJP leaders in Bengal, however, said the party was no longer interested in Mukul’s return. “He (Mukul Roy) is a rejected leader. The BJP does not need him. We are not interested. Those who left the BJP after May 2021 when the party workers were being tortured in the state, cannot be a BJP leader,” Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said.

State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said that while Mukul remains a BJP MLA on paper, the party had sought his disqualification. “Of course, he is a BJP MLA as he won the Assembly election on a BJP ticket. People did not vote for him but for the BJP. After he returned to the TMC, we moved the court seeking his disqualification as a BJP MLA. We cannot say anything more on this right now,” said Majumdar.

Roy, who was the second-in-command of Trinamool Congress and the party’s master strategist, joined the BJP in 2017. Roy was instrumental in helping BJP win 18 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the 2019 general election. But after the BJP failed to win the 2021 Assembly polls, he left the BJP and returned to the TMC. He, however, remained as a BJP MLA.