Senior BJP leader Mukul Roy on Sunday dismissed claims that he had been marginalised in the saffron party and that he was in touch with some of his former colleagues in the Trinamool Congress which he left a few years ago following differences with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“I am very much in the BJP… I have been in the BJP, I am in the BJP and will continue to be with the BJP in future,” Roy told journalist saying his not being invited in a Bengal-specific party meeting in Delhi where most senior leaders from the State were present had nothing to do with “the concocted facts that are being reported in the media.”
Roy who was in Delhi till a couple of days ago said he had come back to Kolkata to get his eyes operated and that there was no secret to be read into the entire affair. On reports of his being in touch with topmost leadership of his erstwhile party the TMC, he said “this is being done to malign me… if the persons who are saying this can come in the open and claim this in public I will ask them to prove his statements or face action… I am ready for any kind of probe for such kind of charges being leveled against me.”
Stories have been doing the rounds that fault lines have appeared between Roy a former Man Friday of Mamata Banerjee and his new party.
He also dismissed reports that he had got the posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah removed from his Delhi office saying “the posters were removed as per the Election Commission orders before the Delhi Assembly elections …. Subsequently things got overlooked due to the corona crisis… and most importantly I personally did not notice them. However, I will get them fixed immediately.
On whether he would return to Delhi at once he said he would not as “my first priority is to get my eyes operated tomorrow where after I will be under observation and then only I will be able to take a decision.”
With Roy not being in the thick of things recently stories had started doing the rounds that BJP State president Dilip Ghosh had got the former Railway Minister’s wings clipped following which he was gradually cosying up to his former outfit which he and the Bengal Chief Minister jointly founded in 1998.
On why he was not found on the field he said “none was supposed to be found on the field during the corona times… we had to follow certain protocols provided by the Central Government.” He also dismissed reports of his annoyance at not being entrusted with any post in the party. “It is not true that I have no responsibility … I am one of the hundred members of India’s largest party’s national executive. .. Is it not enough to prove my relevance in my party.”
On the question of leadership he said “leadership is decided by the people who judge your performance. Today Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are the tallest leaders not only of the party but also of the country inspiring millions of people. This they have achieved by their performance.”