Kolkata, Oct 27 (PTI) West Bengal minister Udayan Guha courted controversy on Thursday by purportedly asking TMC workers to wrench off the moustache and beard of Union Minister Nisith Pramanik after ensuring a massive win for the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll.
Guha, who is the state North Bengal Development minister, allegedly claimed that the general election will be preceded by a thumping victory by TMC in the panchayat polls due next year, A video of the alleged meeting, which took place at Shukarur Kuti gram panchayat area in Dinhata assembly segment of which Guha is the lawmaker, went viral on Thursday.
Guha was purportedly seen saying at a party workers’ meeting on Wednesday that Pramanik has ignored his voters and should “get the treatment he deserves from the public” when he is trounced in the next Lok Sabha poll. He reportedly said that the union minister had never set his foot in the area since winning the Coochbehar seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll.
“Nisith Pramanik will never care for you. He did not reciprocate the faith of the electors after his 2019 Lok sabha win from Coochbehar. Now help win the 2023 panchayat polls with overwhelming majority in the district. That will pave the way for Pramanik’s ouster in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll. Think about wrenching off his beard and moustache after it,” Guha reportedly said.
PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of Guha’s purported comments.
Reacting to the alleged statement by Guha, BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya told reporters “Finding the carpet slipping away from under their feet, TMC leaders like Udayan Guha are making all sorts of tasteless, crass and wild comments.” He said that the people of Bengal will give a befitting reply to TMC in the panchayat and Lok Sabha polls.
TMC spokesperson Joy Prakash Majumder said, “It was more of a rhetoric as Udayan Guha’s intention was to stand by TMC activists and common people in the face of terror unleashed by Pamanik’s men in Coochbehar district and to fightback the BJP ahead of the panchayat polls.
“However his (Guha’s) way of expression could have been different,” he added.
Guha had won the Dinhata assembly by-poll in November 2021 after losing the same seat to Pramanik earlier that year in the state assembly election. The by-poll had been necessitated as Pramanik vacated the seat on being appointed as union minister of state for home affairs, youth affairs and sports..
Pramanik had joined BJP from TMC before the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
He did not comment on Guha’s alleged utterances. PTI SUS KK KK KK
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