KOLKATA: In an embarrassment for the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections due in April-May next year, a party MLA in Coochbehar district on Sunday asked panchayat members not to take share from benefits meant for the people for the time being to be able to gain more in future.
Legislator Udayan Guha, while addressing a TMC workers' meeting in Dinhata, warned the panchayat pradhans that if they do not mend their ways for the time being, they might not get a chance to continue their practise later.
"You have devoured a lot and will do so in future too. Let the people have their share for now.
"If you stop the practise for six months, you will get a chance later, but if you carry on like this, people will not give you a chance again," the Dinhata MLA said.
Reacting to Guha's sermon to the local TMC leaders and workers, BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh alleged it has been the trait of the TMC to take 'cut money' from everything all along and questioned whether the party has come to power only to take cuts and commission.
"Is this why people had brought about a change in the state," he asked, while claiming that the TMC has become the refuge of opportunity-seekers who want to make quick gains.