PM Modi makes a phone call to Mukul Roy amid speculation of his return to TMC

Mukul Roy resigned from the TMC in September 2017 and was suspended for six years for anti-party activities. He joined the BJP in November that year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 3 spoke on phone to Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) national vice president Mukul Roy, whose wife Krishna Roy is undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at a hospital in Kolkata.

The PM’s call is significant because it came a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee visited the hospital to enquire about Roy's ailing wife, triggering speculation that Roy might as well return to the party he left in 2017.

"The Prime Minister spoke to my father over the phone at 10.30 am and enquired about my mother's health," Roy's son Subhrangshu was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Roy, who has been reportedly feeling neglected in the BJP, especially after Suvendu Adhikari, former TMC leader who joined BJP ahead of 2021 assembly election, was appointed the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal.

TMC won the election but Adhikari defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram.

Read: Didi, forgive me: Ex-TMC MLA Sonali Guha who joined BJP issues public apology to Banerjee

Mukul Roy won the Krishnanagar North seat in the assembly polls but his son Subharangshu, also a former TMC MLA, lost from Bijpur seat.

Speculation about Roy's disenchantment started when Subharangshu wrote on Facebook that  self-criticism was “more necessary than criticising a government elected by people." The message was said to be targeted at West Bengal BJP.

Mukul Roy resigned from the TMC in September 2017 and was suspended for six years for anti-party activities. He joined the BJP in November that year.

In September 2020, Roy was made national vice-president of the BJP. Subhrangshu Roy joined the BJP in May 2019. Mukul Roy is also an accused in the Narada sting operation case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Also read: Opinion | In Bengal, it is all about BJP’s loss and BJP’s shame

Since Banerjee took power for the third time in West Bengal, many TMC turncoats had expressed their willingness to return to their previous party. Former MLA Sonali Guha, footballer-turned-politician Dipendu Biswas, Sarala Murmu and former MLA Amal Acharya are among them.