Sidelined Trinamool Congress leader and former party number two Mukul Roy could soon deal a body blow on Bengal ruling party by causing a number of leaders to join the newly formed Nationalist Trinamool Congress Party of which he is reportedly the de facto president.
Though Roy continues to deny his association with the new party, is now awaiting formal recognition of Election Commission of India, sources close to him say that he is almost on the verge of joining the new outfit as its president after resigning his Rajya Sabha membership by the end of this month.
A set of TMC leaders, including at least three MPs and seven MlAs and a group of former office-bearers are in touch with former Railway Minister and will join NTCP around New Year, sources said.
Among them are first Trinamool working president and former State Opposition leader Pankaj Banerjee and at least two former Union Ministers who have currently been sidelined in the party, sources said, adding the fleet of expected deserters could also include MlAs like Sil Bhadra Dutta, Seuli Saha, sources said.
Though Pankaj Banerjee refused to comment on his expected joining of the new outfit he dropped suggestive remarks saying he was currently in no outfit and had not decided to join any party as yet. Banerjee had recently addressed a few public meetings which saw impressive footfall.
Though Roy’s new outfit may not carry own enough popularity to win the Bengal elections scheduled to be held early next year experts said even if his party manages to slice away 2-3 per cent votes it may turn catastrophic for the Trinamool.
A recent survey conducted by a popular Bengali television channel though has predicted a win for Trinamool the margin of votes it has projected between the ruling TMC and the left is a meager 1-2 per cent.
“Whatever vote the new party generates will not come from the left, the Congress or the BJP vote bank but from the Trinamool Congress more so if those sitting MlAs who are unlikely to get ticket decide — which they will do — to back the new party” said an MlA close to Roy.
The former Railway Minister is in good terms with a set of Muslim religious leaders like Toha Siddiqi of Furfural Sharief and the Imam of Nakhoda Masjid in Kolkata both of which jointly hold sway over the largest number of State’s 30 per cent Muslim electorate.
“Though his good chemistry with these religious may not automatically translate into votes because it will all depend upon how the BJP manages to communally polarise the situation during the polls it is sure that 4-5 per cent of the minority vote would definitely tilt towards the new party particularly if it has an alliance with the Congress and the new parties formed by Rezzak Mollah and Najrul Islam,” said the Trinamool leader requesting anonymity.