KOLKATA: Actress turned BJP leader Rupa Ganguly today hit out at Union Minister Babul Supriyo over his recent bonhomie with Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, asking him not to forget the pangs of BJP workers in the state.
Supriyo, singer turned BJP MP from Bengal and Minister of State for Urban Development, shared some light moments with Banerjee during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the state and showered praise on her yesterday during a programme attended by Coal Minister Piyush Goyal.
While addressing a public meeting here, Ganguly said, "Babul Supriyo is a friend of mine. But that does not mean I agree with him on all the issues. He is now a minister. Being a minister means that he has to say good things.
"But while moving around in the same car with Mamata Banerjee and having snacks with her, he should not forget the pangs of BJP workers, the torture perpetuated on them. We the BJP workers are living with a lot of dishonour and pain in Bengal," Ganguly of Draupadi fame said.
"My request to Babul is that you should remember our pain and take our calls. I would like to tell him that he could have asked her why her party men are beating up BJP activists all over the state," she said
Ganguly, who joined the BJP in January, was supposed to be projected as the mayoral candidate in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation election last month. But she could not contest the polls as her name did not feature in the city's electoral rolls.
Asked to react on Ganguly's allegations, Supriyo said, "I think someone has mislead her and she has been instigated. But I can't agree that I don't take call. I had a conversation with her this evening. I will surely talk to her regarding it. Whatever I have done, I have done it following the federal structure of the country".
Ganguly's attack on Supriyo followed allegations leveled by CPI(M) and Congress that Banerjee's sharing of dais with Modi at Burnpur was the result of an understanding between BJP and TMC that CBI would go slow on the Saradha scam probe and the latter would help BJP in passing of bills in Rajya Sabha where the saffron party does not have majority.
Banerjee used to be a bitter critic of Modi and his policies since last year's Lok Sabha poll. The relationship between the two plummeted last year when the Chief Minister did not attend several meetings called by the Prime Minister.
Modi too during his election campaign in Bengal last year criticised Banerjee on the multi-crore Saradha scandal and had promised that guilty will be brought to book.