Udayan Guha: If Suvendu proves my involvement in post-poll violence, will resign as minister

Siliguri: Udayan Guha, minister of North Bengal Development department (NBDD), condemned the comments made by Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Legislative Assembly, on the post-poll violence and on the Lok Sabha election result in Cooch Behar.

The minister challenged the Opposition leader to prove his words. If he could not do so, he should resign from his post and leave politics. On Thursday, Udayan Guha held a Press conference at Uttarkanya, the branch Secretariat of North Bengal, where he said that a few days ago, Suvendu Adhikari made some comments on Udayan Guha.

Adhikari had stated that after the Assembly elections of 2021, there were incidents of post-poll violence in Cooch Behar, where five people were killed. Out of these five, Udayan Guha was involved in three of the murder cases.

Condemning the comment, Guha said: “After the elections, on May 6, 2021, I was attacked by goons of BJP. I was undergoing treatment in Kolkata for the entire month of May, so how could I have killed anyone? The Opposition leader has to prove his words; if he can prove it, I will resign from the post of minister; but if he cannot, he should resign from his post and leave politics.”

The minister further said that recently while visiting Cooch Behar, in a public meeting, Suvendu said that BJP candidate Nisith Pramanik was defeated due to EVM tampering. In this regard, the minister said: “Our candidate won by 39,400 votes, defeating the BJP candidate. Suvendu should prove that there was EVM tampering. He can approach a higher court for that. However, if he is unable to do so, he should apologise for insulting us on a public platform.”

Meanwhile, the minister said that NBDD would do development work in different places of North Bengal with an amount of Rs 400 crore. Work amounting to about Rs 800 to 850 crore will take place in the entire financial year.