Former TMC leader Mukul Roy joined the BJP on Friday. (File photo)
The Trinamool Congress leadership today refused to attach any importance to the recent induction of Mukul Roy into the BJP, adding that he was a "traitor" with no popularity among the masses. The party said it was at all bothered about Mr Roy.
"We do not have time to think about a person who does not have any mass base of his own. We have lot of work at hand and that needs to be done at the earliest," said senior TMC leader and mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Sovan Chatterjee.
Another senior TMC leader and state cabinet member Firhad Hakim advised Mr Roy not to dream about dislodging the TMC government in the next West Bengal Assembly polls as it might turn into a nightmare for him.
"He is a traitor who had betrayed the people of Bengal.
He won't be able to do any harm to the TMC. In our party, Mamata Banerjee holds the reins. It is good to dream, there is no harm in it... but his dreams should not turn into a nightmare," he said.
Mr Roy, who was long the second-most powerful leader of the Trinamool Congress, joined the BJP yesterday. He claimed that people of West Bengal wanted an alternative to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and will vote the saffron party to power in the next polls.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)