Mukul Roy 'mentally unstable', claims TMC leader's son amid rumours he may return to BJP

TMC leader Mukul Roy's visit to Delhi has triggered speculation that he may return to the BJP. Roy, who won the last assembly election on the BJP ticket, joined the TMC in June 2021. This morning, Roy's son Subhrangshu claimed that his father had gone missing and was not traceable. Hours after this, Roy said he was in Delhi for "some personal work". He told reporters that he reached the national capital but had "no specific agenda".

"I have come to Delhi. There is nothing specific agenda. I have been an MP for several years. Can I not come to Delhi? Earlier, I used to come to Delhi regularly," he was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.  
 
Roy's son Subhrangshu had told the news agency that his father was "untraceable" and "missing" since late Monday evening. As a section of media speculated that Roy could return to the saffron fold, Subhrangshu said his father was "extremely unwell" and suffers from "dementia and Parkinson's disease". 

"My father is not in the right frame of mind. I would request everyone not to do politics with an unwell person. After he went missing, I also filed a police complaint last night," he said. 

Subhrangshu, who had also joined the BJP but return to TMC in 2021, claimed when he came to know that his father was travelling to Delhi, he had requested the authorities to de-board him, but by then "the flight had taken off". 

Speculations that Roy may rejoin the BJP gained momentum after BJP national secretary Anupam Hazra made a cryptic Facebook post, writing: "Comeback". 

When asked about his post, Hazra said, "It's time to wait and watch. Please wait for one or two days; everything will be clear very soon." 

Subhranghsu said it was an attempt to malign the TMC and its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. "This is shameful that some people have stooped so low and are doing politics over my father's visit to New Delhi," he said. 

"This is an attempt to malign the TMC and our party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee...If my father joins BJP now, he will not join in a mentally stable state," he said during a press conference on Tuesday. 

Mukul Roy joined the BJP in 2017 following differences with the top leadership of the TMC. He was made BJP national vice president in 2020. He won from the Krishnanagar North assembly seat for the BJP but left the party soon after Mamata Banerjee returned to power for the third consecutive term.