Kolkata, Aug 22 (PTI) Senior TMC leaders Saugata Roy and Sovandeb Chattopadhyay Monday warned of backlash if the entire party leadership is branded as “thieves” by the opposition following the arrest of some among them in corruption cases.
Their remarks drew a sharp retort from the BJP which said they reflect the “sense of insecurity” that has set in in the ruling camp.
Roy said, “There is an attempt to tarnish the entire party because of the misdeeds of a few people. It is not right to blame everybody in TMC for mistakes that some in the party have committed. The party has already taken action in such cases. “But few people and opposition leaders are maligning all of us by calling us thieves. We have committed no wrong and will not tolerate it. If they persist, we will give them a befitting reply in our own way,” Roy, a Lok Sabha MP, said.
His comments came just days after he had stirred controversy by saying that “Shoes will be made by skinning those who believe they can get away by maligning TMC” in the garb of protests. He had, however, expressed regret soon after for making the remark.
Chattopadhyay, the state minister for parliamentary affairs, said he felt like “punching” those who are trying to malign TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
“No one can doubt the honesty and integrity of Mamata Banerjee and the TMC leadership. When someone tries to accuse our party supremo, I feel like punching them. This malicious campaign should stop,” the veteran TMC leader, who was an ace boxer during his youth, said.
Reacting to the remarks, the BJP sought to rub salt by wondering what would be the “appropriate” word to describe people accused in graft cases.
“Those who loot public money or are involved in corruption are called thieves. If TMC has a problem with the word then let them tell us the word we should use to describe those accused of being involved in graft cases,” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.
The CBI had arrested TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal on August 11 from the Bolpur area for allegedly not cooperating in its probe into the cattle smuggling case.
Partha Chatterjee, now suspended TMC leader, was arrested on July 23 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a school recruitment scam.
Although the TMC has suspended Chatterjee, it firmly stood by Mondal and questioned the impartiality of the central investigating agency. PTI PNT KK KK KK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.