Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Thursday, 3 June, spoke to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice president Mukul Roy to enquire about his ailing wife, reported PTI, citing Roy’s son Subhrangshu.
Roy’s wife Krishna is presently receiving treatment for COVID-19 at a private hospital in Kolkata.
Confirming reports of the PM’s phone call, Subhrangshu Roy told PTI:
“The prime minister spoke to my father over the phone at 10:30 am and enquired about my mother’s health.”
Junior Roy, a two-time TMC MLA, had joined the BJP in June 2019, about 19 months after his father switched camp. However, he lost this election while contesting on a BJP ticket.
In his recent Facebook post, he wrote that it would be better for the BJP to introspect its performance instead of disturbing the TMC who had just returned to power. His statement was seen as a disapproval of the Centre’s recent moves that resulted in a tussle with the Mamata Banerjee government.
Abhishek Banerjee Visits Roy’s Wife
This phone call assumed significance since it came after Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee paid a visit to his former party colleague's wife at the hospital on Wednesday evening.
As per Hindustan Times, Banerjee spent about 10 minutes at the hospital, and TMC leaders have said it was a courtesy call.
However, the visit sparked speculation about Mukul Roy’s next move, amid reports that the BJP leader is discontent in the party.
Reportedly, BJP president Dilip Ghosh also went to the hospital, hours after Banerjee did, on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Roy himself is recovering from COVID-19 at home.
Roy who had defected to the BJP in 2017 was previously Banerjee’s lieutenant in TMC.
Not just Roy, several other leaders who had switched to the BJP before the Assembly elections are now making the party anxious with their next move. While some have showed their desire to return to the TMC, in plaintive appeals to Mamata Banerjee, others have hinted at “remorse” on social media.
The TMC government has said re-admitting them is not on the agenda at the moment as the state reels with COVID-19 and the aftermath of Cyclone ‘Yaas’.
(With inputs from PTI and Hindustan Times.)
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