Mukul Roy quits Trinamool, resigns as MP, Trinamool accuses him of insulting Mamata

Kolkata/New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) Suspended Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy on Wednesday quit the party and resigned his Rajya Sabha seat citing "lack of principle" as his compulsion to leave the outfit of which he was a founding member. The Trinamool in turn accused him of insulting its supremo Mamata Banerjee.

"A party should have certain principles. Sometimes Trinamool Congress is with the BJP, sometimes they are with the Congress. They sometime term the BJP as communal, sometime say they are not communal," Roy told the media at his residence in the national capital.

Roy pointed out the Banerjee-led Trinamool was "very much a part of the NDA government once" and joined hands with the BJP, but now believed that the country cannot go ahead without the Congress.

"These things compelled me to leave the party with a heavy heart," he said shortly after submitting his resignation to Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Chairman of the upper house.

In a veiled attack at Banerjee, Roy, once considered her right hand man, said: "Nationalised parties are needed for country's betterment. Since the inception of the party we have considered Mamata Banerjee as the leader. But I think we all are comrades of a party, not servants of an individual."

However, party's Secretary General Partha Chatterjee hit back and called Roy a "betrayer".

"He insulted our party supremo Mamata Banerjee by saying a 'one-man party' is bad for the country. Nothing can be more insulting when he made false allegation against her saying that he was directed to meet RSS people," he said in Kolkata.

On Roy's comments that workers are comrades not servants of an individual", Chatterjee said "What does he mean? Are we servants? We are the volunteers. We do serve the state and people of Bengal."

Asked to elaborate on this comment, Roy, however, said: "I am not saying that all the party workers are servants but the manner in which the party is being run by one person, it is as good as that."

Chatterjee also sought to remind Roy that Banerjee was responsible for his rising political graph from the National General Secretary of the party to Railway Minister.

"He said he came from an ordinary family. Who made him the Railway Minister?" he asked.

Rubbishing Roy's claim that he was directed to contact Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal and the RSS, Chatterjee said, "It is absolutely false. He has to provide proof against such allegations. Why was he silent for so long?"

Claiming that the Trinamool was formed to fight against the policies of the Congress and had been their biggest political rivals for a long time, Roy said the two parties should merge if Trinamool leadership now considered Congress to be imperative for the country's progress.

Stating that "dynasty politics is there all over India", he hinted at presence of such practices in the Trinamool and that it could also be the reason behind his exit.

Refuting Trinamool's allegation that the centre has been using its agencies against them, Roy said the Narada sting footage probe and the Saradha ponzi scam investigation were "not politically motivated" and the CBI was inquiring into both cases under the direction of the Supreme Court.

Roy, yet to reveal his future plans, said he was in touch with the senior leadership of all the parties and would take a decision about his future endeavours after Diwali.

Hailing Roy as a "good organiser", West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday claimed any political party would benefited by inducting a leader like him.

Supporting Roy's allegation of lack of principle in the party, he said regional parties like Trinamool lack political ideology and always hankered after power.

"Such regional parties have no ideology and principle. Their only aim is to rise to helm and stay in power. Their political decisions are driven by this motif and they try to look for explanation to suit their actions. Trinamool is no exception in this regard," he said.