IN A blow to the prestige of the BJP, party’s national Vice President Mukul Roy along with son Subranshu, re-joined the Trinamool Congress on Friday, with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other leaders of the State’s ruling party welcoming him back to the fold.

Roy, who was closeted with Banerjee in Trinamool Bhawan before his formal re-induction in the party he helped set up, said he was “happy to see all known faces again”.

Addressing a press meet after the re-joining ceremony, Banerjee said Roy was threatened and tortured in the BJP, and that, in turn, affected his health.

“Mukul’s return proves that the BJP does not let anyone live in peace and puts undue pressure on everyone,” the Chief Minister said. Roy was seated on Banerjee’s left hand, with Abhishek seated after him, while Partha Chatterjee, another top TMC leader sat on her right, indicative according to TMC sources, of the party’s future pecking order. Speculation had been rife for some time on a possible home coming by Mukul Roy who had crossed over to BJP in 2017 after being charged in the Narada tape sting, ever since Banerjees nephew Abhishek visited his wife at a city hospital earlier this month.

PM Modi had promptly after Abhishek’s visit, rung up to enquire about Roy’s wife’s health, seen by political observers as an attempt to retain him within the BJP-fold.

Interestingly, at Friday’s re-joining ceremony, both Banerjee and Roy claimed that they never had any differences.

The Chief Minister said we will consider the case of those who had left TMC with Mukul for BJP and want to come back.