MUKUL ROY MEETS MAMATA AT HER RESIDENCE

Kolkata, Nearly a year after his relationship nosedived with the party, former Trinamool Congress general secretary Mukul Roy on Friday visited party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her city residence.

Spending over an hour at Banerjee’s residence on the occasion of Trinamool’s 18th foundation day, Roy said he discussed various issues at length with her.

“Being a party member and a MP, isn’t it natural for me to meet the party chairperson? Under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, I have participated in many a struggle. I have been beside her in many of the party’s movements. It is quite natural to have a discussion with her,” Roy told mediapersons after the meet.

“I have discussed at length various issues with her,” added the former railways minister.

Earlier in the day, Roy had urged people to vote for the Trinamool in the 2016 assembly polls.

“I will request the people to vote the Mamata Banerjee government back to power again so that the development of Bengal continues,” Roy said at an event.

Once considered the second-in-command of Banerjee’s Trinamool and credited as the architect of its electoral success, Roy fell out with party after following his grilling by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in January last year.

Going against the Trinamool line that the CBI was targeting the Trinamool, Roy had insisted of “fully cooperating” with the probe agency.

As Roy started skipping Trinamool meetings, Banerjee stripped him of all his posts, and relegated him to the Rajya Sabha back benches. There was much speculation of Roy either floating a new political outfit or join some other party particularly the Congress.

In indications of their mending fences, Roy and Banerjee exchanged pleasantries in Parliament, during the chief minister’s visit to New Delhi in December.

Subsequently he found his way into a Trinamool delegation that met union Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla in Delhi signalling his return to the Trinamool mainstream.

Claiming that Roy had expressed joining the party state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the visit perhaps was an indication of Roy’s return to Trinamool.

“This is no secret that Roy had expressed his desire to join Congress. He met me on the issue and I even took him to party vice president Rahul Gandhi for a talk on the issue,” Chowdhury said.

“It is their internal matter, but Roy’s visit can be construed as his return to Trinamool,” added Chowdhury.