Soumen Roy, who had won from Kaliaganj Assembly seat in North Dinajpur and later defected to the Trinamul Congress, returned to the old party on Wednesday.

Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, announced Roy’s return to the BJP in Calcutta.

In 2021, Roy had defeated Tapan Deb Singha of Trinamul. In September of the same year, he joined Trinamul with the blessing of the then-education minister Partha Chatterjee in Calcutta.

On Wednesday, trinamul leaders in North Dinajpur said that Roy's departure would not affect the party.

“He had indeed joined Trinamul but he was not sincere in carrying out political activities. His decision to return to the BJP will not affect our party in any way. We have a strong organisation in Kaliaganj,” said Kanaialal Agarwala, the district Trinamul chief.

Debasree Chaudhuri, the BJP MP of Raiganj, welcomed Roy’s decision. “It is good that he has realised that people voted for him because he had contested as a BJP candidate. We hope he will take up political activities in his constituency in the coming days.”