Nice pol gesture if BJP did not contest Bhabanipur by-poll: Rajib Banerjee


PTI | Kolkata | Updated: 21-09-2021 16:35 IST | Created: 21-09-2021 16:35 IST
Nice pol gesture if BJP did not contest Bhabanipur by-poll: Rajib Banerjee
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TMC turncoat Rajib Banerjee, who had unsuccessfully contested the April-May assembly poll on a BJP ticket, Tuesday said it would have been a ''nice political gesture'' if the saffron party did not contest Bhabanipur by-poll, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is among the contestants.

He also welcomed Babul Supriyo's decision to join TMC and said to his knowledge the former union minister had vented his feelings on what was happening in BJP long back.

Banerjee has been keeping his distance from the BJP since the decalaration of the assembly poll result and had met TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee at his office recently raising speculation of his return to TMC.

''I don't think BJP did the right thing by fielding a candidate against Mamata Banerjee. It would have been a nice political gesture if it did not. Like the Congress it should have shown political courtesy to a chief minister,'' he told reporters here.

The BJP and CPI-M have fielded candidates against Banerjee in Bhabanipur but the Congress did not. On the claims by Supriyo that certain words and language used by Dilip Ghosh had contributed to BJP's poor performance in the polls, Banerjee said ''I shouldn't comment on what Babul said about Dilipda. But the divisive campaign by our party during the campaign was not accepted by the majority of electorate.'' On the comments made by the leader of the opposition and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari against the chief minister during his campaign for Nandigram seat, Banerjee said ''He (Adhikari) is a big time leader. But I think using certain phrases like Mamata Begum and fufa against a mass leader who has led her party's massive win in 213 out of 292 seats was not taken in good spirit by the people of Bengal.'' Rajib Banerjee, who had attended several BJP campaign meetings after joining the party about two months before the assembly poll and had slammed TMC at that time, claimed that he had voiced his reservations about such comments against the TMC supremo inside the party.

Reacting to Rajib Banerjee's comments, a senior BJP leader said ''He has not been in touch with our state unit for months after the polls. We had given him due recognition after he had crossed over to us.

''But now he is making certain comments against BJP in public. If he has to say something he should approach the party and discuss it internally,'' he said.

The BJP leader said Banerjee should not have talked against fielding of candidate by the saffron party against Mamata Banerjee in the September 30 by-poll. ''Everyone in BJP is unitedly fighting against Trinamool in Bhabanipur.'' PTI SUS KK KK KK

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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