Former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who had expressed the desire to part ways with the BJP weeks after joining it, on Tuesday said he would quit the party if TMC MLA Debashree Roy joins the saffron camp.
His comments came in the backdrop of West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh saying it is his prerogative to decide whether Roy will join the party or not and he is not bound by any "directive or condition set by others".
The latest development comes after senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukul Roy had a meeting with Chatterjee in New Delhi late on Monday night and claimed that the latter was "not leaving the party as of now".
Chatterjee, a four-time Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA who joined the BJP on August 14, wanted to part ways with the party for being "regularly humiliated", his close associate Baishakhi Banerjee had claimed on Saturday.
Both Banerjee and Chatterjee had a marathon meeting with Roy at the latter's New Delhi residence on Monday night, BJP sources said.
"The party leadership had asked me to meet Sovan and Baisakhi, and we discussed a range of issues... There may have been some misunderstandings. Everything is sorted out and I have made it clear
that they are very much with the party. They will remain in the party as of now," Roy told reporters on Tuesday.
Banerjee had also joined the BJP along with Chatterjee.
The former city mayor said he had discussed all the issues with "elder brother" Roy.
But after returning to Kolkata, Chatterjee told PTI on Tuesday that if Debashree Roy joins the saffron camp, he will immediately resign from the BJP.
"When I had joined the BJP on August 14, I had clearly told its working president J P Nadda, national secretary Arvind Menon and state president Dilip Ghosh that if Debashree Roy joins the party, I will resign. My point of view is still the same," he told PTI over phone.
Earlier, Ghosh said it was his prerogative to decide who would join the party.
"I do not want to comment on it. It is the prerogative of the party and the president to decide on it. I am not bound by any pre-condition or directive from someone who has just joined the party," he said.
On Saturday, Banerjee had said ever since joining the BJP, they were being "regularly humiliated and insulted without any reason".
According to sources in the saffron party, Banerjee and Chatterjee had recently met BJP national general secretary and its West Bengal affairs in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya and expressed their desire to quit the party.
The two are understood to have been miffed over the recent developments related to two-time TMC MLA Debashree Roy reportedly seeking to join the BJP.
The actor-turned-politician had also visited the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on August 14, following assurance by a senior state party leader that she could switch over to the saffron fold, but was met with opposition from Chatterjee, the sources said.
Ghosh has said he has no objection to Debashree Roy joining the party.
Chatterjee, once a trusted aide of West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, was asked to step down both as a state minister and the city mayor in November last year, following troubles in his personal life.
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