Days after the surfacing of a video in which he is reported to have admitted meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, estranged Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy on Wednesday said he was in talks with many people and may even talk to CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury."As an MP it is my privilege to talk to anybody. As an individual, I have the prerogative to talk to any individual," Roy told media persons who were seeking his reaction on the alleged video."As a MP I can talk to anybody. I am talking to everybody... I can even talk to Sitaram Yechury. I have talked to many people... the prime minister... what's the harm in that," asked Roy.The video aired by TV news channels is said to have been shot during Roy's Sunday meet with Ibrahim Siddique - an influential Muslim cleric - at Furfura Sharif in Hooghly district.After the meet, Roy - one of the founding members of West Bengal's ruling party - did admit before media persons that expectations of the minorities from the Mamata Banerjee government have remain largely unfulfilled.
While the Trinamool asserted it was keeping a close tab on him, Roy, who has been stripped off all party posts including general secretary and leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha, seemed unperturbed."What will happen that is future. There is a proverb in Bengali that if my aunt had moustache she would become my uncle. So, only future will tell what is in store," said Roy when asked to comment on reports that Banerjee was acting towards paving his exit from the party.Credited as the architect of Trinamool's electoral success, Roy's relations with the party nosedived following his interrogation by the CBI in connection with the multi-crore rupee Saradha scam.Going against the party stand that the CBI was targeting Trinamool leaders, Roy insisted he would cooperate with the probe agency even if it called him a hundred times.