Will he, won't he?

Mukul Roy was stripped of the post of all-India general secretary of the Trinamool Congress by party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier this year after he distanced himself from the party, following his interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the Saradha scam. With the gulf between the party and Roy widening, there was growing speculation that he was planning to launch his own party. Till now, Roy had refused to comment on the conjecture. But when journalists accosted him at Bagdogra last week while he was on his way to the Mahakal temple in Darjeeling, Roy added some grist to the mill, saying, "Neither ruling out the possibility at the moment nor confirming it... I am a Trinamool Congress MP. My first priority is to be on the side of people."