File picture of Mukul Roy.
Sidelined Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy has expressed his desire to join the Congress and the party high command was actively considering the matter, West Bengal Pradesh Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has said.
"Mukul Roy has expressed his desire to join Congress. The AICC is actively considering the issue and they will soon take a decision on that," Mr Chowdhury told IANS.
He also asserted that the party would not be adversely affected by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Mr Roy in the multi-crore-rupee Saradha chit find scam, if the Congress eventually decided to take him in.
"Interrogation doesn't mean he has been implicated or convicted. Many others from the Congress and the CPI-M have been questioned in the scam," said Mr Chowdhury.
"Moreover, he doesn't want to join the Congress seeking favours regarding his interrogation by the CBI. So, I don't think the fact that he was quizzed by the CBI will have any adverse effect on the party."
During the day, Mr Roy held talks with Congress leaders Abdul Mannan and Abu Hashem Chowdhury.
"I am not an office-bearer. So, he did not express his desire about joining the Congress to me. We had a talk about the affairs of the state and he said there was a need to bring in a change in Bengal," said Mr Mannan.
Once the second in command of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool and credited as the architect of the party's electoral success, Mr Roy was stripped of all party posts. His relations with the party soured after the CBI began quizzing him.
Going against the party stand that the CBI was targeting Trinamool leaders, Mr Roy insisted he would cooperate with the probe agency even if it called him a hundred times.
Earlier, there were speculations of Roy joining the BJP but both the Trinamool Rajya Sabha member and the party in power at the Centre have dismissed the possibility.