Trinamool Congress founder Mukul Roy passes away after cardiac arrest

Veteran politician and former railway minister Mukul Roy died of cardiac arrest at a Kolkata hospital at 71. A Trinamool Congress founder who later joined the BJP, he served as Union minister and was twice elected to the Rajya Sabha

Kolkata:Veteran politician and former railway minister Mukul Roy died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital here on Monday, his family said.

He was 71.

---

Roy breathed his last at 1.30 am at the private hospital, his son Subhranshu Roy said, adding that he had been in a coma for the last several days.

Roy was a founder member of TMC when the party was formed in 1998.

Later, following differences with the party, he joined the BJP in 2017.

Roy became an MLA from Krishnanagar Uttar constituency in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls on a BJP ticket, but returned to the TMC after the polls.

During his long political career, he served as the railway minister in 2011 in the UPA-2 government, when the TMC was part of the Centre.

He was elected twice to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal.