Posters tagging TMC MLA Baishali Dalmiya as 'outsider' appear in her constituency

Amid the TMC's "insider versus outsider" campaign, party MLA Baishali Dalmiya on Thursday expressed reservations over "branding" of Union ministers coming to Bengal, even as sources said posters calling her an outsider have also been put up in her constituency.

Amid the TMC's "insider versus outsider" campaign, party MLA Baishali Dalmiya on Thursday expressed reservations over "branding" of Union ministers coming to Bengal, even as sources said posters calling her an outsider have also been put up in her constituency. Dalmiya, a first-term MLA from Bally assembly seat in Bengal's Howrah district, is miffed over the posters that have come up at several places in her constituency, TMC sources said.

A section of local TMC leaders alleged that she is "not found in the constituency most of the time". She, however, said that the charge is "baseless and politically motivated".

"I am not an outsider here. I have my home in Bally. Even when Union ministers arrive here, they are called outsiders. So it is quite natural that I will also be termed an outsider. This culture (insider and outsider) should just stop," the legislator, daughter of former Indian cricket administrator and businessman Jagmohan Dalmiya, said.

Reacting to her comment, senior TMC leader and state cabinet minister Arup Roy said no one has termed Union ministers as "outsiders". Only those BJP leaders who come to Bengal from other states and try to dominate the Bengalis here are referred to as "outsiders".