Party time

Political circles in Kolkata are rife with speculation about the launch of a new political party, following an advertisement in a Hindi newspaper. On Thursday, the newspaper published from Kolkata carried a notification about the launch of the 'Nationalist Trinamool Congress Party', with its office in Dinhata in north Bengal. The rules of the Election Commission mandate all new political parties notify people about the launch to gauge if anybody has any objection to the name of the party. The intriguing bit was Amitabha Majumdar, an aide of Mukul Roy, was named president of the new party. Roy was part of the inner ring of advisors of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the de facto number two, but was removed from all party posts after his name appeared in connection with the Saradha scam. Roy is currently a Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member. While Roy refused to comment on the launch of the party, that hasn't stopped speculation that he might join the party close to the West Bengal Assembly elections in April-May 2016.