Trinamool Congress now a private company, says Mukul Roy

Roy, a former close aide of Mamata Banerjee said that Mamata is no longer the person she used to be 10 yrs back

Newly inducted BJP leader Mukul Roy today accused his former party Trinamool Congress (TMC) of having turned itself into a "private limited company" under the stewardship of Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek.

The TMC, on the other hand, charged Roy with making "false statements", and said he was the "managing director" of the party, which he is now dubbing as a company, until some time back.

Roy, a former close aide of Mamata Banerjee, said she is no longer the person she used to be 10 years back.

"I still remember 10 years back, when people were being killed in Nandigram and Singur, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was busy inaugurating a film festival. Today also when people are dying from dengue, Mamata Banerjee is busy inaugurating film festival", Roy said addressing his first rally here after joining the BJP recently.

"TMC is no longer All India Trinamool Congress. It has turned into a private limited company," he said.

He said, "Badla noi, badal chai" (No revenge but change) was the slogan Banerjee gave before the 2011 Assembly polls, but now the police is detaining political leaders for opposing the TMC government.

We want democracy in Bengal. I have every right to have political freedom, he said.

Roy said former chief minister Jyoti Basu used to go for foreign trips on the pretext of bringing in investment and now Banerjee is doing the same thing.

Her entourage is much bigger than that of Jyoti Basu, he said, adding that no industrialist has come to West Bengal to invest.

Roy accused a senior state cabinet minister of taking favours from chit fund companies.

He alleged that the minister was the president of a Durga puja organising committee which took advertisements from chit fund companies and described those entities as corporate partners.

TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee sharply reacted to Roy's comments, terming them "false".

He said Banerjee did not interfere in anybody's work in the party and took everybody along.

Banerjee launched various development projects which were appreciated everywhere, Chatterjee said.