Kolkata: TMC's Mukul Roy was reported 'missing' since late Monday evening, his son Subhragshu told news agency PTI adding that he is not able to contact his father. The former railway minister was scheduled to board a flight to Delhi Monday evening. A missing complaint was also filed in this regard by Subhragshu at Kolkata's NSCBI Airport Police Station Monday night.
One of his close aides said that the TMC leader was scheduled to land at Delhi Airport at around 9 pm but no one was able to contact him at present. Earlier in February, Mukul Roy was admitted to Apollo hospital in Kolkata after he complained of uneasiness. He was suffering from neurological ailments.
Mukul Roy was long known to be the number two in the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress before he joined the saffron party in 2017. He had complained of differences with the party leadership before joining the BJP. In the BJP, Roy was made the national vice-president and was appointed as the convener of the West Bengal BJP's panchayat committee.
Also read: Senior TMC leader Mukul Roy hospitalised; condition stable, say doctors
The stalwart leader played a key role in the states panchayat polls in 2018 with BJP winning 5,779-gram panchayat seats. This helped BJP to overtake the Left and become the second-largest party in the state. The TMC bagged 38,000 seats in the local body polls.
Party sources revealed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has met Roy a couple of times inquiring about his health and it was deemed as a signal to the party cadre and Roy to set things in order ahead of the panchayat polls, which is due later this year.
Mukul also won the Krishnanagar MLA seat in 2021 on a BJP ticket. However, he later switched sides and came back to the TMC fold after the 2021 Assembly election results. The political leader has been keeping a low profile since then.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, one of the TMC turncoats who joined the saffron camp, filed a complaint against Roy's defection. However, the complaint was dismissed by the Assembly Speaker.
