Kolkata: Former Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy on November 3 officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Roy, a founder member of the TMC, was inducted into the party at BJP headquarters in the national capital. The former TMC leader, known for his organizational skills, joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.
“Happy to inform that Mukul Roy is joining BJP, we welcome him,” senior party leader and union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press conference. He added that Roy’s experience will be benefit the party. “His experience will benefit us surely I believe,” said Prasad.
Talking to reporters, Roy said he is privileged to work under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Today I have Joined BJP and it’s my proud privilege to work under PM Modi,” said Roy.
The 63-year-old leader recalled how the TMC forged an alliance with the BJP soon after Banerjee founded it and became a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He said the regional party could not have grown without the BJP’s support.
Rejecting Banerjee’s charge against the BJP, he said, “It is not a communal party. It is a secular party. People in
Bengal are not happy and are looking for an alternative. The BJP will soon clinch power in the state.”
Asked about corruption allegations against him, Roy said the law will take its own course.
Roy had last month quit TMC and resigned from Rajya Sabha membership after fallout with party chief Mamata Banerjee. After quitting from TMC, Roy had said all members in a party “should be comrades and not servants”.
Amid speculation of his joining the BJP, Roy had said in 1998 when the TMC had seat sharing arrangement with the saffron party in West Bengal, its leadership had said that BJP is not communal. He recalled that he was one of the signatories when the Election Commission had recognized the TMC as a political party.
Roy was suspended for six years for “anti-party activities” by the TMC following his announcement on September 25 that he would resign from the party after Durga Puja.
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