TMC MPs’ names featured in PM’s event ad sans invitation

Kolkata: The advertisement relating to the inauguration of several government projects by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bengal which was put on display stoked controversy as it featured the names of several Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs many of whom were allegedly not at all invited to the programme.

The name of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was also there in the advertisement. Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh stated: “TMC MPs were not given invitation letters. Does it show a courtesy from the Central government or the BJP. It was only to show the names of Trinamool Congress MPs were published in the advertisement. The Bengal Governor was invited and he attended the programme.”

Names of about 8 Trinamool Congress MPs were published in the advertisement. It featured the names of several BJP MPs as well and some Central ministers. The names of BJP MPs—Santanu Thakur and the Minister of State (MoS) for Union Ports, Shipping and Waterways Ministry, Sukanta Majumdar Minister of State (MoS) for Union Education Ministry were there in the advertisement. Opposition Leader in Bengal Suvendu Adhikari’s name also featured in the invitation alongside party Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya who has recently become the state president of BJP in Bengal.

The names of Trinamool Congress MPs who found place in the advertisements were Kalyan Bandopadhyay, Mala Roy, Mahua Moitra, Sudip Bandopadhyay, Aroop Chakraborty, Kirti Azad, Sharmila Sarkar.

Trinamool Congress claimed that its party MPs were not invited to the PM’s programme in Durgapur. They did not know about the Central government’s programme in Durgapur. What BJP had claimed to be a matter of courtesy was actually a false claim and “double standard” by the saffron party.