Former Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy on Friday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad made the announcement at a press conference at the BJP headquarters in Delhi. “Happy to inform that Mukul Roy is joining the BJP, we welcome him,” he said.

On October 11, Roy had resigned from the Rajya Sabha and all posts in the Trinamool Congress. There was already speculation then that he would join the BJP. After resigning from Trinamool, Roy had met West Bengal BJP in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

“Today I have joined the BJP, and it’s my proud privilege to work under PM Modi,” Roy said at the press conference soon after joining the party, adding that “in the near future, BJP will capture the power in West Bengal”.

Roy was suspended from the Trinamool Congress for six years on September 25 for allegedly indulging in anti-party activities. A former Union railway minister, he was removed as the party general secretary in 2015, after the Central Bureau of Investigation began to look into his involvement in the Saradha chit fund scam.

On Friday, Roy also met BJP President Amit Shah and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.