KOLKATA: Fearing Covid-19 infection, BJP leader Mukul Roy has decided not to visit the party's state headquarters on central Kolkata’s CR Avenue where hundreds of party workers turn up every day. There are murmurs in BJP circles that he took the decision after he found himself not in the list of the party’s office-bearers after the recent rejig in the Bengal unit.
Roy decided to set up an office in Salt Lake city from where he will chalk out his "game plan" aiming crucial 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal, sources in the BJP said.
Though the former second-in-command in Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress cited his fear of being infected by the coronavirus is the only reason, insiders in the party said Roy was keen to be placed in the state committee or party’s other morchas (wings) and given certain responsibilities. He also expressed his desire to BJP’s West Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya for being inducted in Narendra Modi’s cabinet.
Several turncoats were included either in the party’s West Bengal state committee and or as heads of its morchas in the recent restructuring.
Roy’s face has been off the screen at a time when BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh holds regular briefing addressing media to sharpen attack on Mamata Banerjee on recent issues such as her government’s alleged failure to combat Covid-19 infection in the state and corruption among her party workers that are depriving real affected people in cyclone Amphan ravaged areas. Last time he was seen giving a speech in a virtual rally on June 9 in which Union Home minister Amit Shah had slammed Mamata Banerjee and her government.
BJP sources said Roy had flown to Delhi and met the party’s central leadership, including Amit Shah, on two occasions this month. "He expressed his present status of ‘no work to do’ in the party’s regular activities in West Bengal. He clearly told the central leadership that he was keen to share a berth in Modi’s cabinet or bear responsibilities of the organisation in West Bengal. We learnt that Shah told Roy that he would have to play a key role in the Bengal’s assembly elections," said a BJP leader in Bengal.
Referring to his Delhi visit and meeting Shah, Roy said the discussion revolved around 2021 assembly elections in the state and election strategy for Bengal was the focal point of the discussion.
Admitting his decision not to visit the party headquarters, Roy said, "Many people visit the place every day. This why I have decided to work from my Salt Lake office because the election is approaching and we will have to gear up for it."