Slip of Tongue or Strategy? Suspicion Mounts As Mukul Roy Again Says BJP Will Win Bypolls

TMC MLA Mukul Roy kicked up fresh controversy on Friday after he again said that the BJP will win if a by-election is held in his constituency Krishnanagar North. This is the second time within a week that Roy, who had joined the Trinamool Congress days after winning the assembly election seat on BJP ticket, has said the saffron party will be victorious. He, however, said that the TMC will do well in the 2023 assembly elections in Tripura.

Meanwhile, the BJP has moved court to contest the controversial appointment of Mukul Roy as the chairperson of the public accounts committee (PAC).

On being asked if he will again win from Krishnanagar, Roy said, “Yes, will win if contested from BJP. TMC, I don’t know.”

To the question of how he was nominated in PAC, he said, “I am PAC chairman from BJP. You ask questions I will answer as BJP.” He the quickly went on to say that he is in TMC.

The leader once again created ripples with his statement, a video of which went viral. This was not the first time he had said so.

On August 6, Mukul Roy visited his Krishnanagar constituency in Nadia district. On being asked for his reaction on TMC reaching Election Commission for bypolls, he suddenly said, “In by-election, I can say on behalf of BJP that TMC will loose.” As he was saying his personal assistant was trying to correct it.

Realising his faux pas, Roy had corrected himself saying he actually meant the TMC.

Roy’s son Subhranshu had defended his father’s previous comment and said that he is forgetting things due to a chemical imbalance in his body and is suffering from depression after his wife’s death.

“There is immense sodium potassium imbalance in my father’s body, that is leading to lot of problems. He is forgetting everything. This has started with my mother’s death. We are really concerned about his health. His words should not be blown out of proportion.

Political analysts have wondered if it is Roy’s strategy to deal with the BJP as he finds himself in troubled waters over his PAC nomination and MLAship. The BJP has gone to court against his PAC chairmanship and an in-Assembly hearing is underway on his qualification as an MLA, which too is contested by the saffron party.

Is it Roy’s strategy to technically show that he is in BJP, analysts have conjectured after he categorically answered that he has been nominated for the chairman post from BJP. Whispers of whether it is a slip of tongue or a strategy by Roy are doing the rounds of the Bengal power corridors.

Senior TMC leader Tapas Roy refused to comment on Roy’s gaffe, while the BJP said that the people will judge such statements.

The senior politician had left the Mamata Banerjee-led party in 2017 to join the BJP and returned to the TMC around a month after the results of the assembly elections were declared on May 2. However, officially he is still the BJP MLA of Krishnanagar North constituency and has been made the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the state Assembly.

Roy on Friday said he is ready to visit Tripura to work for the TMC if asked by the party. “I will do whatever is told by the party. The BJP is not doing the right thing in Tripura. Our party will do well in the next polls there,” he added.

BJP MLA and leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari said Roy was greeted with much fanfare when he reached the TMC office to join after winning on BJP ticket.

“Now if he makes such statements, it is for people of the state to judge. He was accorded high security by the state government, he was made the PAC chairman. Now let the TMC see,” he said. The BJP has demanded disqualification of Roy as a member of the assembly under anti-defection law and his removal from the post of PAC chairman which traditionally goes to the opposition party.

The TMC leadership has been saying that Roy is a BJP MLA and hence his appointment as the PAC chairman won’t pose any problem on technical ground.

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