A day after joining the BJP, former Trinamool Congress heavyweight Mukul Roy on Saturday said people of Bengal are getting united to bring about another political change in the 2019 general and 2021 assembly elections.
"When the people get united, the change takes place. The people of Bengal are getting united. Therefore I can foresee that another change is going to take place in Bengal in 2019 and 2021 elections," Roy said in an interview with Bengali news channel ABP Ananda here.
"The situation in Bengal is such that the people at the grassroot level are getting united to defeat Trinamool Congress. So no one knows what can happen in the grassroot level in the Panchayat elections," said Roy, once the right hand man of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.
However, the Trinamool leadership rubbished Roy's claims, asserting that people of Bengal would once again show that their allegiance lies with Chief Minister Banerjee when the time for another election arrives.
"The people are with our leader Mamata Banerjee. They all love her. When the time comes people will again show where their allegiance lies," said state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim.
"Mukul Roy's comments does not have much value as he himself has deviated from the ideals," he retorted.
Asked about his reason for leaving Trinamool, of which he was a founding member, Roy said the party has lost its aim and ideals with which it once fought to bring about the change in Bengal.
"The change in Bengal was brought about with our blood and sweat. But the aim with which we fought to bring the change, Trinamool Congress has deviated from that path. That is why I left the party with a lot of sorrow," he said.
He also claimed that the change in Bengal should have happened for its 10 crore inhabitants, but instead it took place for only a handful of people.
Stating that he is now wholeheartedly devoted to the BJP, he said he would come back to Bengal on November 6 and talk to everyone willing to meet him at the BJP office on the same day.
--IANS
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