Veteran politician and former railway minister Mukul Roy died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital here on Monday, his family said. He was 71.
Roy breathed his last at 1.30 am at the private hospital, his son Subhranshu Roy said, adding that he had been in a coma for the last several days.
Roy was a founder member of TMC when the party was formed in 1998. Later, following differences with the party, he joined the BJP in 2017.
Once a mother helps
Roy was once considered a close aide of Mamata Banerjee and often regarded as TMC’s second-in-command and key strategist or ‘Chanakya’ of the party. But Roy surprised many when he jumped ship to join the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2017, two years before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. What followed was a series of defections from the Mamata-led party.
Roy was widely credited with helping the party expand its base in Bengal in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP finished close second to the Trinamool Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP won 18 seats while the TMC won 22 seats in West Bengal, which sends 42 Lok Sabha members to the Parliament. Roy contested the 2021 Assembly elections on a BJP ticket and won from Krishnanagar.
Roy’s influence within the BJP, however, began to wane. He left the BJP a month after Suvendu Adhikari became the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal. Roy rejoined TMC on 11 June 2021, along with his son, in the presence of Mamata Banerjee.
Often known as “Chanakya of Bengal politics” for his political acumen, Roy rose through the ranks to become the Trinamool Congress’s national general secretary after co-founding the party with Mamata Banerjee in 1998.
In his pre-BJP days role. Roy played a significant role in strengthening the party after TMC ended the Left Front’s 34-year rule in West Bengal in 2011.
TMC to BJP to TMC – the turncoat career
Roy was a veteran politician from West Bengal and was known as the ‘Chanakya’ of West Bengal politics. Roy was widely regarded as a master strategist and was once the second-in-command to Mamata Banerjee in TMC. Roy was also credited with playing an important role in the TMC’s 2011 victory that ended 34 years of Left rule in West Bengal.
Roy also served as a Union Minister. He served as the Union Railway Minister (2012) and Minister of State for Shipping during the UPA-II government.
Mukul Roy was often regarded as TMC’s second-in-command and key strategist.
In 2017, Roy joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) due to a rift with the TMC leadership. Roy is even credited with helping the BJP secure 18 seats in West Bengal during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He, however, returned to the TMC in June 2021.
In his final years, Roy had withdrawn from active politics due to severe health issues, including dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and diabetes. His son, Subhranshu Roy, confirmed his death following a massive cardiac arrest.
