Kolkata: Once Trinamool Congress’ second-in-command, Mukul Roy seems to be taking over the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election campaign for the high-voltage West Bengal Assembly polls scheduled next year.
Roy once again came to the political centre stage before the state’s crucial poll battle following a high-level meeting in New Delhi attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, national President J.P. Nadda, Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh and other political big shots of the saffron brigade.
It was learnt that Roy would be given the role of a co-observer for the party in the upcoming Bengal polls, sources in the BJP said.
In a bid to topple the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in Bengal, Roy emerged as a key political trump card for the BJP’s central leadership.
On September 26, Roy was promoted from an ordinary member of the BJP’s national executive committee to the post of National Vice President by Nadda, along with the elevation of two others from Bengal, Anupam Hazra and Raju Bista, who were also given key roles in the party.
The decision to give more political importance to Bengal BJP leaders came at a time when the party is gearing up for the upcoming political face-off to oust the ruling Trinamool Congress government in the state.
“The West Bengal Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in 2021. Along with state BJP President Dilip Ghosh, I will try to ensure a BJP victory in Bengal,” Roy had said on being appointed in the new role.
Earlier, Roy was given the charge of being a convenor for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in which the saffron brigade had secured as many as 18 parliamentary seats in the state, and an unprecedented rise of over 40 per cent of the total votes.
According to sources in the BJP, this time also the party is not going to change its strategy. The key responsibility would be given to Roy, once known as Mamata’s chief lieutenant in the Trinamool Congress, to spearhead the party’s charge in next year’s Assembly polls.
A few months back, speculation were also rife that Roy had developed differences with Dilip Ghosh on certain issues and the matter even reached New Delhi for necessary redressal.
Once the second-in-command in the state after Mamata Banerjee, Roy had left the Trinamool Congress in October 2017 following differences with the party supremo.
