West Bengal: Senior Trinamool Congress leader & MP Mukul Roy to quit party

Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Member of Parliament Mukul Roy on Monday announced that he is quitting the party.

"After Durga Puja I will resign from the party and post of MP. I will reveal why I am resigning from the party." Roy said addressing to media

Last week, the TMC had censured estranged party leader for allegedly hobnobbing with BJP leaders and drew the line by saying the party was keeping a close watch on him.

The warning from the ruling party of West Bengal came two days after Roy gave up the 'Z' category security cover provided to him by the state government.

On Saturday, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said that Roy was in touch with the top leadership of his party, but stopped short of saying whether he would join the saffron outfit.

"He (Roy) is a big leader. I am not aware whether he would join the BJP or not. But he is in touch with our leaders in New Delhi," he said.

Once the second-in-command in the TMC after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Roy, a Rajya Sabha MP, currently shares a strained relationship with the party.

Roy was recently removed as the TMC vice-president after the party decided to restructure its committee.

He was earlier removed as the party's in-charge of Tripura, where the TMC was steadily making inroads till its members switched over to the BJP earlier this year.