BJP puts up undeterred front but cracks begin to show after Mukul Roy’s exit

Top leaders of the BJP’s Bengal unit and the party’s spokesperson said that it won’t affect the party as the BJP was not a party driven by any single person. A few other leaders slammed Roy.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday tried vehemently to put up an undeterred front after the departure of its national vice president Mukul Roy, but the cracks within became more conspicuous as a section of leaders blamed the party for Roy’s exit.

Senior BJP leader Mukul Roy joined the TMC in Kolkata on Friday. (PTI PHOTO.)

“Any person can go anywhere. We are more concerned with the party workers who are under attack. I don’t know what the loss (after Mukul Roy’s departure) would be. I didn’t see any gain (when he joined the party),” said Dilip Ghosh, who some BJP party leaders said, shared a strained relationship with Roy.

Top leaders of the BJP’s Bengal unit and the party’s spokesperson said that it won’t affect the party as the BJP was not a party driven by any single person. A few other leaders slammed Roy.

“In 1968 when CPI was formed, former CPM leader Hare Krishna Konar had said that humans don’t become weaker by answering nature’s call. They get stronger. I want to reiterate this today for those turncoats who had come to BJP and are now going back,” said Tathagata Roy, veteran BJP leader and former governor of Meghalaya and Tripura.

Former TMC MLA Baishali Dalmiya who joined the BJP in January 2021, just ahead of the assembly polls went to the extent of sating that the party should get rid of garbage.

“I would request BJP leader of Bengal Hon. MLA Shri @SuvenduWB ji to expel all the garbage out of our BJP party as soon as possible,” tweeted Dalmiya.

On the other hand, party’s national secretary and former MP Anupam Hazra, however, criticized the BJP for Roy’s exit.

“During the assembly elections, the party went crazy with one or two leaders. Many others leaders were not utilized. There was lobbying. This needs immediate repair else the state BJP will face more trouble in the future,” he said.

The TMC, however, accepted Roy saying that the son has returned home as he could not take the policies of the BJP.

“They went to BJP for some reason. But they have understood that the policies of BJP be it that of Covid-19 management or its economic policies are not in favour of Bengal. So they don’t want to stay in that party anymore,” said Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson.

Other political parties including the CPIM and the Congress reacted to the event.

“That Mukul Roy may return, the hint was given by Mamata Banerjee in her election campaign. Roy who had vowed to evict the TMC has once again surrendered before the TMC along with his son. This gharana of turncoats is a new identity of Bengal politics,” said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Bengal Congress president and Congress MP.

“It reminds me of a Bengali song. For a long time we have been seeing a section of leaders moving to and fro between the TMC and the BJP. It is a relation between the two parties,” said Ashok Bhattacharjee, veteran CPIM leader and mayor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation.