Ghar wapasi of Mukul Roy as BJP fails to retain TMC co-founder

Long considered the number-two in the TMC, Mukul Roy fell out with Mamata Banerjee after 2016 as her nephew Abhishek Banerjee started pulling more weight in the party's decision-making process. He left the TMC in 2017.

A week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Mukul Roy, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice-president quit the party to return to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) fold. PM Narendra Modi's call was made over 12 hours after TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee visited the hospital where his wife was being treated for Covid-19. PM Modi's call also had the backdrop of the chatter in West Bengal's political circles that Mukul was due to make his ghar wapasi (homecoming) following the BJP's defeat in the assembly election. He was a co-founder of the TMC, headed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Long considered the number-two in the TMC, he fell out with Mamata Banerjee after 2016 as her nephew Abhishek Banerjee started pulling more weight in the decision-making process in the party. Sulking for months, Mukul quit the TMC in 2017 to join the BJP.