Mukul Roy meets Bidhannagar Mayor Sabyasachi Dutta
Senior BJP leader Mukul Roy met Bidhannagar Mayor Sabyasachi Dutta at the latter's residence on Friday, a development that fuelled speculations of the senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader switiching over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Both Roy and Dutta, however, refuted the speculations and said it was just a courtesy visit.
Roy, a former TMC leader who had crossed over to the BJP in 2017 over differences with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, went to Dutta's residence late in the evening and held a meeting for more than two hours.
Dutta, also an MLA of Rajarhat Newtown, was known as a loyalist of Roy during his days in the TMC. However, he stayed back in Banerjee's party even as Roy became a rebel.
"Sabyasachi is like my younger brother. I share personal bonding with his family. I just came to meet him to inquire about his well being," Roy said.
Echoing Roy, Dutta said the BJP leader went to his residence to "inquire about my well being".
The Trinamool leadership, however, said they were keeping a close watch on the development.
Dutta has considerable influence in North 24 Parganas' Dum Dum and Barasat Lok Sabha constituencies, both of which are adjacent to Kolkata.
Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation is the local governing body responsible for civic infrastructure of Salt Lake and Newtown satellite cities.
In the last two months, several TMC leaders, including sitting Lok Sabha MP from Bishnupur, Soumitra Khan, had switched over to the BJP.
The Trinamool Congress leadership off late has been reaching out to its disgruntled leaders to thwart any "poaching" bid by the BJP ahead of the general elections.
