The appointment comes amid a major organisational churn in the TMC’s parliamentary ranks following the rebellion by 20 MPs, who subsequently aligned with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), triggering changes in the party’s leadership structure in Parliament.
Satabdi Roy, who had been serving as the deputy leader of the TMC in the Lok Sabha, was among the MPs who joined the rebel camp, necessitating the appointment of a new deputy leader.
Saugata Roy is one of the TMC’s most senior and experienced parliamentarians and has been a prominent voice for the party in the Lok Sabha on a range of political and policy issues.
A retired physics professor, Roy has been a five-time Lok Sabha MP and currently represents the Dum Dum constituency in West Bengal.
He first entered the Lok Sabha in 1977 from Barrackpore, after which he became an MLA for five consecutive terms from 1987 to 2009.
He returned to Parliament in 2009 from Dum Dum, winning successive terms thereafter. Before joining the TMC, he was associated with the Congress.Roy has also served as the Union minister of state for petroleum and chemicals in the Charan Singh government and as Union minister of state for urban development in the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh.
He has also been a five-time member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
