TMC slams BJP leaders for ‘boycotting’ Prez event

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has criticised BJP for allegedly boycotting the felicitation programme of President Draupadi Murmu at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata and rubbished the allegations by the saffron brigade that the state government did not invite any BJP leaders to the event.

TMC remarked that BJP does not even spare the President from its petty politics. While the BJP in a press conference on Monday alleged that the state government did not invite any of the BJP MLAs, including the Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, TMC took to its social media handles to share copies of the invitation letters.

Sharing images of an invitation letter, TMC wrote on its official Twitter handle: “@BJP4 Bengal leaders claim that they were not invited to the Civic reception organised in the honour of the Hon’ble President of India.”However, the authenticity of the images posted by TMC has not been verified by Millennium Post. The image purportedly showed an invitation letter with the subject line: “Receipt of the Invitation Cards of Civic Reception in the honour of Hon’ble PRESIDENT OF INDIA on 27th March 2023.”

In the recipient column, the invitation letter mentions the name of Sukanta Majumdar MP, Dilip Ghosh and Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of Opposition. The invitation letter bore the mark of the Government of West Bengal. The image of the letter purportedly shows that it was received by “Pranoy Roy, Office Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party,

West Bengal”.

TMC also circulated images of India Post postal covers which show addresses of BJP leaders Raju Bista, Saumitra Khan and Agnimitra Paul, mentioned on it. Sharing these images, TMC claimed: “BJP’s lies caught again.”

The sparring between the two parties began after BJP leader Saumitra Khan, during a press conference called by Suvendu Adhikari in New Delhi, told the media that the state government did not invite any BJP MLAs/MPs, including the Leader of Opposition, to the President’s programme.

He alleged that this is an attack on democracy by the West Bengal government which lacks all courtesy and is destroying the culture of Bengal.

Following his statement, TMC shared Saumitra Khan’s video clip from the press conference and wrote on its Twitter handle: “@KhanSaumitra IS A LIAR! And they have NO RESPECT for people belonging to the Santhali community. We caught him and his buddy @SuvenduWB LYING IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, sitting in New Delhi. Were these lies approved by you, @AmitShah?”

TMC leader and minister Shashi Panja told the Press that the very fact that Suvendu Adhikari and other BJP leaders chose to go to New Delhi on a day when the President is visiting Bengal, shows that they have no respect for her.

She added that BJP neither has any respect for women nor for tribal people. Citing examples, she alleged that the “rapists” of Bilkis Bano, who were pardoned and garlanded by BJP leaders, were later seen on stage at BJP’s public meeting while the saffron brigade had earlier made derogatory comments concerning the looks of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Minister and TMC leader Birbaha Hansda alleged that Suvendu Adhikari had once during a meeting in Netai remarked that Birbaha and the Binpur Trinamool MLA Debnath Hansda, remain under his shoes. She said that to date the BJP leader has not apologised for that comment.