Who is Mukul Roy, former aide of Mamata Banerjee

Mukul Roy, born on April 17, 1954, is an Indian politician from West Bengal. Roy created a place for himself in the political scenario of India with the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) and was believed to have shared a very close relationship with Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee. After his name cropped up in the Saradha scam and had a reported fallout with Mamata, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Born in Kanchrapara, North 24 Paraganas, West Bengal, he completed his graduation in BSc from Calcutta University. In 2006, he completed his Masters degree at the Madurai Kamaraj University.

Roy started his political journey with Youth Congress. It was then when he grew close to Mamata, who was a Youth Congress leader. Soon, they broke away from the Congress and formed the All India Trinamool Congress in January 1998.

Afterwards, he was made the face of the party in New Delhi and was alleviated to the post of general secretary in 2006.

In 2001, he made his electoral debut and fought the Assembly elections on a Trinamool ticket from Jagatdal constituency. In 2006, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2006 and became the leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha for 3 years, beginning in 2009.

Roy was chosen as the Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Shipping under the UPA 2 government. He was later given the Railway portfolio after Mamata Banerjee resigned.

After the Saradha scam, he was suspended from TMC for differences with the party. In November 2017, he joined the BJP.