Kolkata, Feb 23 (IANS) Senior politician Mukul Roy, a former Railway Minister from West Bengal, died early Monday morning at a private hospital in Kolkata, his family has confirmed. He was 73.

Mukul Roy breathed his last a little after 1.30 a.m. on Monday, confirmed his son, Subhranshu Roy. He was under treatment for quite some time because of several medical complications, and he was not even responding to the treatment, according to his close associates.

Roy was once the second-in-command in Trinamool Congress as the party’s general secretary and the closest confidant of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He was among the first nine leaders who approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) to form a new political party — Trinamool Congress — in the late nineties, which Mamata Banerjee founded after she parted ways with Congress. A host of state Congress leaders in West Bengal had backed her.

Later, he served as Railways Minister, Union Minister of State for Shipping and Waterways, and Union Minister of State for Urban Development in Dr Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-II government, which started in 2009 with Trinamool Congress as the alliance partner.

However, over a period of time, he started distancing himself from the Trinamool Congress leadership, especially Mamata Banerjee. He was first removed from the chair of the party’s general secretary, and slowly, his participation in the party programmes started fading out.

Finally, in 2017, he announced his decision to sever ties with Trinamool Congress and join the BJP. He even resigned from his chair as a Rajya Sabha member of Trinamool Congress. He continued with the BJP till 2021.

In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election, he successfully contested from the contested as a BJP candidate in Krishnanagar (Uttar) Assembly constituency in Nadia district.

However, he joined Trinamool Congress just days after the results were declared, and Mamata Banerjee led her party to come to power for a third consecutive term with a massive majority.

However, he did not resign as a member of the state Assembly and officially continued as a BJP legislator there.

The Assembly Speaker, Biman Bandopadhyay, rejected the BJP’s plea seeking cancellation of Roy’s membership from the Assembly.

The Speaker said that since Roy was officially a BJP candidate, his membership could not be cancelled.

Roy was even made the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House, a post which is traditionally offered to an MLA from the principal opposition party in the Assembly.

Thereafter, the BJP approached the Calcutta High Court seeking the cancellation of Roy’s membership from the House as a legislator from the Krishnanagar (Uttar) Assembly constituency.

After a prolonged hearing in the matter, finally, on November 12, 2025, the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi finally cancelled Roy’s membership of the House.

Calcutta High Court’s decision was challenged in the Supreme Court by his son, Subhranshu Roy. On January 16, an apex court bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagch stayed the decision of the Calcutta High Court.

His death marks the end of a colourful but chequered political life. Roy is often regarded as the initiator of the current trend of alluring and influencing political leaders from opposing parties to shift camps.

–IANS

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