Kolkata: Former Railway Minister and veteran politician Mukul Roy, once the second-in-command of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), passed away early Monday at a private hospital in Kolkata. He was 71 and had been suffering from multiple health ailments, including dementia.

Roy was a founding member of the Trinamool Congress, established in January 1998, and began his political journey with the Youth Congress in West Bengal. He was a close aide to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and played a pivotal role in consolidating the party’s presence in both Bengal and Delhi.

After TMC’s formation, Roy served as the party’s general secretary and later represented TMC in the Rajya Sabha, becoming the party leader in the upper house from 2009 to 2012. During the UPA II government, he initially held the post of Minister of State for Shipping before taking over as Railways Minister in March 2012, succeeding Dinesh Trivedi.

Once hailed as the ‘Chanakya of Bengal politics’, Roy was instrumental in strengthening TMC post-2011, overseeing a wave of defections from the CPM and Congress, which helped consolidate the party’s rule in Bengal after 34 years of Left dominance.

Roy’s career was not without controversy; his name was linked to the Saradha chit fund scam and the Narada sting operation. In November 2017, he formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), assisting the party in expanding its base in West Bengal and contributing to its 18-seat victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He also secured a BJP MLA seat from Krishnanagar Uttar in the 2021 assembly polls.

However, differences with the BJP led him to return to the TMC in June 2021. Despite rejoining, he was no longer as influential as before. On November 13, 2025, the Calcutta High Court disqualified Roy as an MLA under the anti-defection law after he switched allegiance from the BJP back to the TMC.