Mukul Roy (born 17 April 1954) is an Indian politician from West Bengal. He has also served as a Minister of State in the Shipping Ministry and later Ministry of Railways during the second UPA government.[3] Before the creation of Trinamool Congress, he was a member of Indian National Congress. Between 2017 and 2021, Roy left Trinamool Congress to join Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2021, he left BJP and joined TMC.
He had resigned from Trinamool Congress on 25 September 2017; later he was suspended from the party for six years for anti-party activities. He also resigned from Rajya Sabha membership on 11 October 2017.[5] He rejoined All India Trinamool Congress on 11 June 2021 along with his son in presence of Mamata Banerjee.[6]
On 11 July 2011, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directed Mukul Roy to visit the site of the derailment of the Guwahati-Puri Express in Assam, he openly defied him. This brought a lot of displeasure among the political circles and he was shunted out of the Railways portfolio in the latest cabinet reshuffle on 12 July 2011.[10][11][12][13]
The President Pratibha Patil administering the oath as Cabinet Minister to Mukul Roy at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on 20 March 2012.
After Dinesh resigned, Mukul became the Railway Minister of India and he removed the fare hike introduced by the former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, to much criticism. With the exit of Trinamool from UPA coalition due to an allowance of 51% FDI in retail and aviation sector, Mukul Roy's tenure of railway minister came to an end in the month of September 2012.[15]
An application has been submitted to the Election Commission for the formation of the new political party called All India Trinamool Congress and Mukul aide Amitabha Majumdar has been named as the President. The head office of the party is located in Dinhata, in North Bengal.[18]
Roy was suspended from the party for six years as he met senior BJP leaders like Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya. He has resigned from Trinamool Congress on 25 September 2017. After that Roy also resigned from Rajya Sabha membership on 11 October 2017.[5][20]
Roy set foot in Krishnanagar, his constituency. He first came to Krishnanagar Bhatjangla on 27 June 2021.[25] He was then greeted by All India Trinamool Congress activists wearing a wreath. Soon after, a quarrel broke out between All India Trinamool Congress activists over the reception of Mukul Roy.
On 19 January 2022, his lawyer told the Speaker that he is still in the BJP and he never rejoined the ruling Trinamool Congress party. Accordingly, the Speaker dismissed Roy's disqualification as legislator under anti-defection law.[2]