Former TMC leader Tapas Roy joins BJP

Roy had resigned as TMC MLA on Monday, citing disillusionment with the party leadership.

PTI, Kolkata, Mar 6, 2024 :  Former TMC leader Tapas Roy, who had quit West Bengal's ruling party two days ago, joined the BJP on Wednesday.

   

Roy had resigned as TMC MLA on Monday, citing disillusionment with the party leadership.

"I have joined the BJP today, as I want to fight against the misrule and atrocities of the TMC," he said, after being handed over the party flag from BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar and Suvendu Adhikari here.

The TMC, however, said Roy has abandoned his principles and ideologies in his quest for personal gains.

Stating he had been feeling suffocated in TMC increasingly for past two months, Roy said, "the likes of inhuman pirates like Shahjahan Sheikh were being backed by the party top brass which looked the other way towards mounting evidences of atrocities against women in that area for years."

"These things compounded the discomfiture for people like us as we cannot defend such wrongdoings by some rogue and corrupt elements of the party.

"Further, despite not being tainted and stained by any single shred of corruption, I was targeted in a conspiracy hatched by my detractors in the party and my house was raided though nothing was found. I reiterate while the party chairperson could refer the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on Shahjahan Sheikh on the floor of assembly, she remained silent about the unjustified, unfair and plotted ED raids at my residence on January 12 and day long harassment to my family members, my wife and daughters," he said after joining the saffron camp.

Roy said his views and opinions were not sought by the party about its increasing disconnect with the masses and people of Bengal over issues like corruption, arrests of party heavyweights and finally the Sandeshkhali issue and he did not feel to be integral with the organisation with which he had been associated from a very early phase.

Roy, who was flanked by Majumdar and Adhikari, asserted, "I will fight with all my might against the corruption and misrule of TMC. I will work under the leadership of Narendra Modi and follow the directives of the party till my last breath."

Roy stepped down as MLA of Baranagar on March 4 and had said he "was a free bird from now."

"I will let you know about my future moves soon," he had told reporters immediately after quitting.

"The people of Bengal would never forgive traitors like Tapas Roy, who quit the party for vested interests," TMC leader Santanu Sen said.

Senior TMC leader and MLA Atin Ghosh, however, told reporters Roy's sense of hurt and anguish could have been addressed by the party much earlier and the top leadership should have reached out to him.

"Had such overtures been made by our party, I think we could have prevented a five-time MLA and loyalist like Tapas Roy from leaving the party," he said.