Unwanted elements from TMC inducted in BJP : Tathagata

Kolkata, May 6 dmanewsesk:  A day after triggering a row by tweeting that some “politically stupid” actor-turned-BJP candidates were fielded by the party only to concede electoral defeat in the West Bengal assembly polls, veteran BJP leader Tathagata Roy on Wednesday said “unwanted elements” (benojal) from TMC were inducted into the saffron party ahead of the assembly polls.

Also leaders having no idea or understanding of Bengali culture and heritage helmed the election campaign, Roy told reporters here.

“Benojal (unwanted elements) from Trinamool were inducted in BJP, lots of money was spent to run election campaign without any result,” Roy said in a sharp attack.

“There should not be much jumping around that we got 77 assembly seats this time from the previous figure of 3 in last assembly polls. Should we be elated for that?” Roy commented.

He said several old timers and party loyalists were not given due importance in the election and their views were not counted while “leaders having little understanding of Bengali culture helmed the party campaign.”

The former Meghalaya and Tripura Governor, known for his controversial comments and tweets on different issues in past, had on Tuesday called three new political entrants in BJP from the tinsel world who were defeated by big margins as “politically stupid”.

“Film and TV actors who never had anything to do with politics, let alone BJP, were handed tickets by BJPs election management team. Parno Mitra (Baranagar), Srabanti Chatterjee (Behala West), Payel Sarkar (Behala East). These women were so politically stupid that they had gone on a steamer trip with TMCs playboy-politician Madan Mitra less than a month before elections and shot selfies with him. All were roundly defeated,” he wrote.

Roy, however, soon tweeted a correction on the thread saying he meant Tanusree Chakraborty and not Parno Mitra as having shot selfies with Madan Mitra and “regretted the error”.

Tanusree had contested from Shyampur in Howrah district on a BJP ticket and had been defeated.

Tagging the BJP top brass in the tweet, he asked “What great qualities were these women possessed of? Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dilip Ghosh & Co must answer.”

He said contesting the polls involves large expenses.

“It must not be forgotten that a BJP electoral ticket carries with it substantial money for running the election. Or for other purposes!”

Reacting to Roy’s diatribe, Tanusree Wednesday said “As a woman I strongly protest againST such comments. Had Smriti Irani or late Sushma Swaraj been subjected to such insults? By making such comments in public you have hurt all the three of us. We are party members and believe in discipline.”

Tanusree said she will raise the issue in the internal meeting with Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dilip Ghosh and Amit Malviya.

Kanchan Mallick, a screen actor who fought on a TMC ticket and won the Uttarpara seat, earlier reacted strongly to Roy’s jibe at his industry colleagues. “It is insulting for them even though they belong to my rival party,” he said.

Recently Roy had entered into a verbal duel in the social media with actor-turned-Trinamool Congress leader Saayoni Ghosh over her views on certain matters and had filed a police complaint against her for a tweet posted years ago on the ground that it hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus.

Source: PTI