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A day after resigning from the Trinamool Congress, Mukul Roy on Thursday gave strong indications that he would not form a new party in West Bengal, contending that his vast political experience could be utilised by any party including the BJP.
Roy, who has been cozying up to BJP leaders for some time now, admitted that he was in constant touch with them.
“I believe that any good leader of political potential can help any party get good results,” Roy said.
Speaking about his vast experience in state and national politics, Roy said that “apart from Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, there is no one in TMC” who could match his knowledge of every booth in West Bengal.
Roy submitted his resignation as Rajya Sabha MP to Vice President and RS Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday, 11 October, amid speculations of his entry into the BJP.
Roy, who has been meeting senior BJP leaders for the past few days, said on 10 October that he had always been “very comfortable” talking to them.
A senior leader of the BJP said on 9 October that Roy would not be inducted into the saffron outfit if he was found guilty in a corruption case.
Asked how the BJP could induct Roy, against whom it had run a political campaign over the last few years, the leader, who did not wish to be named, said: “He has not been proven guilty yet, only allegations have been raised.”
He, however, added that the party was yet to take a call on the matter.
“The West Bengal unit of our party will first discuss and decide. After that, we will take a call. But, if he (Roy) is found guilty in the Narada and Saradha cases, we will not induct him into the party,” the BJP leader said.
He added that the saffron party was like "the river Ganga, where various small rivers meet".
Roy had met BJP's in-charge of West Bengal, Kailash Vijayvargiya, who said the saffron party was not in a hurry to induct him.
Roy had been suspended by the TMC for six years for "anti-party activities" after he had said, on 25 September, that he would resign from the party after Durga Puja.
He had recently described the BJP as a secular party and said the TMC would not have tasted success without the backing of the saffron outfit at the national level in its initial years.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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Published: 10 Oct 2017,08:21 AM IST