Cold shoulder from BJP? Mukul Roy may form new party

After former All India Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy resigned from Rajya Sabha, sources in the party said that Roy is keeping all his options open. This includes the possibility of floating a new party if BJP does not end up inducting him.

Sources in AITC said that although Roy has been saying that he has been going to Election Commission of India (EC) to urge it to conduct free and fair polls in the by-elections to be held in November, it was learnt that the real purpose of his visit is to understand the minute details of launching a new party.

Sources in the EC said that Roy is scheduled to meet with the officials of EC after Diwali too.

On Thursday, after Roy went to the offices of the EC, he told the media that it was simply to as a common citizen of India.

“We have received information that Roy is floating a new party and that the party will not be registered in his name, but in the name of a close relative. Although Roy is trying hard to enter BJP, the party is still looking at all the probabilities before inducting him," a senior AITC leader said.

Sources in BJP said, “Although Roy has spoken with various senior BJP leaders in New Delhi, but we received opposition from various state leaders as well as national leaders to induct him in the party."

A senior BJP leader said one section of BJP leaders feel that the party would lose ground to AITC, which it has been trying to corner on corruption, by allowing Roy to join the party as he is still one of the accused in the Saradha scam and the narada scam.

On the other hand, a section of leaders believe Roy may help the party strengthen their base in Bengal because of his organisational capacities.

A maverick

This is not the first time Roy has taken up the idea of launching a new platform. In 2015, when he was removed form the position of party general secretary, he floated a new party - the Nationalist Trinamool Congress - which was later merged with the AITC.

Roy’s relations with Banerjee had been deteriorating for a while but worsened in 2014, after Roy in an open press conference told media that way back in 2010, when Miss Banerjee was the Union Railway minister, that the Saradha Group had bagged a contract with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, (IRCTC).

Roy’s statement had led to controversy as Banerjee had already claimed that she was not familiar with the Saradha group. Despite sticking around in AITC, Roy lost his position of preeminence.