Former Tripura governor and senior BJP leader Tathagata Roy has criticised his own party for giving Rajya Sabha positions to former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders instead of long-time BJP workers. Roy raised the issue in a post on X on Sunday evening.
What Tathagata Roy said
Roy named Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Koel Mallick, Prakash Chik Baraik and Susmita Dev, describing them as Trinamool members 'till yesterday'. He tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin and West Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya in his post. Writing from the US, where he said he is ‘completely retired’, Roy said BJP workers in Bengal had suffered heavily at the hands of Trinamool supporters. He argued that ignoring their concerns would be ‘very unwise’ on the part of the party's central leadership. Roy said he was speaking as a Swayamsevak with more than 35 years of association with the Sangh and the BJP.
Who is Tathagata Roy?
Born in 1945, Tathagata Roy is an engineer and former governor who founded the construction engineering department at Jadavpur University. He joined the BJP in 1990 and served as the party's West Bengal president from 2002 to 2006. In 2015, he was appointed governor of Tripura. Roy is also the elder brother of TMC MP Saugata Roy.
BJP responds to Tathagata Roy
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On Monday, West Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya said the party would not induct ‘tainted’ TMC leaders and asserted that 'Trinamoolisation of BJP will never happen'. Referring to the induction of Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik, Bhattacharya said they were brought into the party because the BJP had taken the decision to induct them. He again stressed that there would be no ‘Trinamoolisation’ of the BJP.
Background: Former TMC leaders join BJP
The four leaders were TMC Rajya Sabha members who left the party after it lost the May Assembly elections. Three of them, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik, resigned from the Rajya Sabha in June, joined the BJP on July 9 and were subsequently re-elected unopposed on BJP tickets. Koel Mallick, the daughter of veteran actor Ranjit Mallick, had served as a TMC Rajya Sabha MP from April 6 to July 16. She joined the BJP on Monday, a day after being nominated for the vacant Rajya Sabha seat, and filed her nomination papers at the Assembly.
Explaining her decision, Mallick said, “The way development work has begun in West Bengal over the last few months, I am happy as a citizen,” She said she had entered politics with the intention of working for the people and added that she had never spoken ill of anyone and would not start doing so now.
TMC reacts
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction criticised Mallick's decision, saying she had not done justice to the party's prestige. TMC leader Kunal Ghosh also attacked the former TMC leaders who have moved to the BJP. He said that when Mamata Banerjee was Chief Minister, ‘they lived Trinamool’, and alleged that they were now leaning towards the BJP because it was in power. Ghosh further claimed that Mamata Banerjee had brought Koel Mallick and her father Ranjit Mallick into politics.
