The rift between Mamata Banerjee and her party’s second-in-command Mukul Roy widened further after he was replaced as the leader of the TMC in the Rajya Sabha by Derek O’Brien on Friday. A letter from TMC chief Mamata, replacing Roy, was sent to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, sources said. Roy, who was once considered to be closest to the West Bengal Chief Minister, has fallen out of favour with her ever since he was grilled by the CBI in the Saradha chit fund scam.
O’Brien, the popular quizmaster, was till now the Chief Whip of the party in the Rajya Sabha. The sources said no decision has been taken on who will be the new Chief Whip of the party. Roy was removed from the coveted post as punishment for meeting Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, insiders said. The former Railway Minister had been deposed as the Trinamool Parliamentary Party chairman a few days ago.
Asked how he would react to Mamata’s decision to replace him as leader of the TMC in Rajya Sabha, Roy told newsmen on Friday that “such decisions are totally the prerogative of the party leadership” adding “they must be taking such decisions in the interest of the outfit.” On the recent attempts by some Trinamool leaders to belittle him despite the fact that the party owed much of its current organisational strength to his skills, Roy said: “Only time will tell, who is little and who is big” adding “creating something does not give a person perennial right on his creation.”
Asked whether he had been invited to the party’s working committee meeting, and if so whether he would attend it at all, Roy said he was writing to the party about his inability to attend the meeting as he would be busy in the Budget Session and also had some personal work. Roy had skipped the earlier meeting also for which he had been criticized by Mamata.
On why he met Jaitley in Parliament ignoring the Bengal Chief Minister’s bitterness against BJP leaders, Roy said: “Mr Jaitley is the Finance Minister of the country and also he is the leader of Rajya Sabha. As the member of the same House I have all the right to meet him. By doing so I don’t think I have done anything illegal or I have acted beyond my brief.” According to inside sources at least 46 MlAs and a good number of MPs were in touch with the Trinamool Congress leader.