'Rahul Gandhi taking opinions on inducting Mukul Roy'

Kolkata, Oct 25: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has been taking opinions from various sections of the party in West Bengal on whether it would be helpful for the party if it inducts sidelined Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy, a senior Congress MP claimed today.

"Recently our party leader Rahul Gandhi met councillors and other leaders. Apart from asking questions about our organisational strength, he enquired whether it would be good for the party if Mukul Roy is inducted into it," the Congress MP told PTI on condition of anonymity.

Congress councillor Prakash Upadhyaya, who was present in the meeting with Gandhi, said the party vice president was taking opinions about the proposal of inducting Mukul Roy.

"Rahulji was taking our opinions on Mukul Roy. The decision whether he will be allowed to join in the party or not will be taken by the high command," Upadhaya told PTI.

Roy, who has a strained relation with Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, expressed his desire to join Congress and met Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury had said in May.

The Rajya Sabha MP of Trinamool Congress, however, neither denied nor accepted this claim. Roy, who was once the No 2 in Trinamool hierarchy, was shunned by the party leadership after he spoke against it on several occasions ever since he was interrogated by the CBI in January in connection with the Saradha scam and much of his powers were taken away.

PTI