File image of Mukul Roy
| Photo Credit: PTI
Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy passed away in the early hours of Monday (February 23, 2026) morning. He was 71 years old. He was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata and was suffering from several ailments. Mukul Roy’s son Subhranhshu Roy said that his father suffered a massive cardiac arrest and passed away at 1.30 a.m.
One of founding members of Trinamool Congress, Mukul Roy was considered Chanakya of West Bengal politics. Before the rise of Abhishek Banerjee in the Trinamool Congress, Mr. Roy was widely number two in the party.
A trusted aide of Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee, Mr. Roy was key to the party’s organisation and served as a link between party and the government. It was under Mr. Roy’s influence that several leaders from Congress joined Trinamool Congress. Mukul Roy, had also served as Railway Minister from March to September 2012.
Hailing from Kanchrapara in North 24 Parganas, Mr. Roy started his political career with the Congress and decided to set up Trinamool Congress with Mamata Banerjee in 1998. It was Mr. Roy who submitted the official symbol of the party with the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Differences between Mukul Roy and the Trinamool started surfacing in 2016 particularly after he was summoned by central agencies during investigation in the chit fund scams of the State. In November 2017, he joined BJP and was crucial to the BJP electoral performance in 2019 Lok Sabha polls when the party won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats.
After switching sides from Trinamool to BJP, Mr. Roy contested the 2021 Assembly polls on a BJP ticket from Krishnanagar North constituency. He won and was elected as an MLA.
Later, that year he returned to the Trinamool Congress. Since, he did not resign as an MLA after his defection he remained a BJP MLA on the paper. Mr. Roy was also made the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari approached the Calcutta High Court for disqualifying him as an MLA. Although the Calcutta High Court ruled in favour of disqualification, the Supreme Court gave an interim stay on that decision.
For the past few years he was away from active politics, due to his failing health. Mr. Roy changed the politics of West Bengal forever by encouraging defections of elected public representatives and extending the party’s influence on the State administration.
Published – February 23, 2026 09:11 am IST
