Mukul Roy quits Trinamool, slams dynastic politics

New Delhi:  Suspended Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy, once a confidant of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, today quit the party and the Rajya Sabha, accusing her of running a one-man show and propagating dynastic politics.

Roy, who was suspended for six years for “anti-party activities” by Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) following his announcement on September 25 that he would resign after Durga Puja, also said that he had never considered the BJP a “communal party”.

“I feel in a party everybody is a comrade and not a servant. And this kind of behaviour is common in every one-man political outfit. “One-man politics is bad for every political party in the country,” the 63-year-old leader told reporters, adding he is leaving the TMC, the party he formed with others, with a heavy heart and much pain.

Roy was speaking after submitting his resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu. Without naming Banerjee, he said dynastic politics in the party was one of the main reasons for him to leave it.
“There was no atmosphere in the TMC to even raise issues such as dynasty rule,” he said when asked as to why he took so long to take a decision to protest against the so called “dynastic politics” in the party.

Cracks had begun to surface in the relationship between Roy and TMC supremo Banerjee with the rise of her nephew Abhishek Banerjee as the next generation leader of the party. The fissures widened in 2015 when Roy’s name came up in the Saradha chit scam and he was removed as general secretary.
The party suspended Roy last month accusing him of hobnobbing with the BJP.

Roy criticised the TMC’s stand of opposing the BJP saying that Banerjee’s party was part of the NDA earlier. He admitted that he was “close” to leaders of the RSS and the BJP. Referring to Banerjee’s tenure as a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Roy said that the TMC cannot use the word “communal” against the BJP to suit its political requirements.

“When the TMC was an ally of NDA then Vajpayee was moderate but Advani was hardliner. Modi is good but Amit Shah is communal. These double standards can’t carry on,” Roy said. On the issue of scams allegedly involving TMC leaders, Roy said “it is not possible for Banerjee to know what her leaders are doing at the individual level”.

Though Roy did not reveal his future political plans today, he indicated that he will soon be joined by other TMC leaders and supporters. “When we broke away from the Congress, no MP or MLA joined us initially, but within 20 days we could form the TMC,” Roy said. Roy was earlier removed as the TMC vice president after the party decided to revamp its structure.

He was also stripped of the charge of Tripura where the TMC was steadily making inroads till its members switched over to the BJP earlier this year. Roy was known for his organisational capability, loyalty to Banerjee and backroom manoeuvring skills until he fell out with her. He held the rail portfolio and was the minister of state for shipping at the centre.