Senior Trinamool leader Tapas Roy joins BJP ahead of LS polls

Kolkata: Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, former Trinamool Congress leader and veteran politician Tapas Roy, who had resigned both from his Assembly post and primary party membership on March 4, officially joined the BJP on Wednesday afternoon.

Roy was welcomed into the saffron camp by state BJP President and Lok Sabha member Sukanta Majumdar, and leader of opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, who handed over the party flag to him.

“From today, I am part of the BJP family and as long as I live, I will continue to be here. I will try to work as directed by the BJP leadership with equal sincerity, something which I have done all through my political career.

"It was impossible for me to continue in the Trinamool Congress, which is running the state government without caring for the minimum democratic decorum. Trinamool has become a party dominated by anti-social elements like Sheikh Shahjahan, Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar. So, I have consciously quit the Trinamool and joined the BJP,” Roy said.

Although Roy resigned as a Trinamool legislator on Monday, his resignation is yet to be accepted by Assembly Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay.

According to the Speaker, there were some technical mistakes in the resignation letter of Roy, who has been asked to submit a revised letter on Thursday.

Reacting to Roy joining the BJP, rebel Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh, who continues to be the party’s state General Secretary, said that had the ruling party leadership taken initiatives at the right time, the exit of a senior leader like Roy could have been avoided.

“Personally, Roy joining the BJP is a matter of immense pain,” Ghosh said.

Before resigning from Trinamool, Roy had said that although Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had initially defended Sheikh Shahjahan on the floor of the House over the attack on ED team at Sandeshkhali on January 5, she was silent about the central agency’s raid at his residence in Kolkata in connection with the multi-crore municipalities’ recruitment case, which "saddened" him "immensely".

He had also claimed that the ED operation at his place was orchestrated by the leader of Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay.