Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Saturday stripped Mukul Roy of all key party responsibilities. Mr. Roy, a founder-member of the party since its inception in 1998, was removed as the general secretary and ceased to be a member of the executive committee and the working committee.
The decisions were taken at a party meeting held at Ms. Banerjee’s residence. Mr. Roy was not present. “Subrata Bakshi is the only all-India general secretary of the party,” TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee told journalists, without mentioning Mr. Roy’s name.
Once the closest aide of Ms. Banerjee, Mr. Roy was number two in the party and successfully managed the organisation for over a decade. He played a crucial role in the TMC’s victory in all major elections between 2009 and 2014. However, differences between Mr. Roy and Ms. Banerjee cropped up after Mr. Roy was summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the multi-crore Saradha scam on January 30.
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Saturday’s developments came as no surprise as, on February 14, Ms. Banerjee appointed Mr. Bakshi additional general secretary of the TMC, indicating Mr. Roy’s removal. Eventually, she assigned key responsibilities to her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, without consulting Mr. Roy. Recently, Ms. Banerjee walked out of a press conference when asked about Mr. Roy.
Though restrained in his response to the development, Mr. Roy told journalists that he had been with the TMC even before Ms. Banerjee joined it.
“On 17 December, 1997, when I submitted the first application to set up the party, Ms. Banerjee was not a member.”
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In recent weeks, Mr. Roy has visited the Election Commission’s main office in Delhi several times, presumably to figure out the status of the founder-member-cum-general secretary in the party. His visits to the EC’s office irked Ms. Banerjee, party chairperson, more, perhaps hastening his removal.
Mr. Roy said when he started working as the only general secretary of the party, it was “zero.” He was happy that the party had grown significantly.
“I remain an MP and a responsible party worker,” he told journalists in Delhi on Saturday, soon after he was relieved from his posts. However, he refused to comment on whether the removal would affect the party or he would leave the TMC.