Kolkata: A Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA on Saturday courted controversy by calling the ruling party in West Bengal a “company” and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a “brand”. The remark drew sarcasm from BJP leaders, who said that he had “spoken the truth”, while the TMC tried to downplay his remark, saying that his choice of wording was inappropriate, but that was not his intention.
Addressing a press conference, Howrah North MLA Gautam Chowdhary said, “Didi (as Banerjee is popularly called) is the brand with which no one else can be compared.”
Chowdhary said, “TMC is a company whose brand is our leader, our Didi, Mamata Banerjee. We are non-entities. One can say we are medical representatives of a pharmaceutical firm. Didi is everything.”
He was among TMC leaders to hold a press briefing on the ‘Didir Suraksha Kavach’ outreach programme, talking about how Banerjee reached out to people with welfare projects.
Reacting to the comment, BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “Everyone knows that Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee are everything in the TMC. No one else has a voice. is confirmed.”
TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, however, said, “Choudhary wanted to talk about Mamata Banerjee’s popularity, but his choice of words was not appropriate. He has been cautioned to be more careful while speaking in future.”
Leader of Opposition Shubhendu Adhikari had earlier on several occasions described TMC as a private limited company and Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee as its director and managing director respectively.
Pointing to Mamata Banerjee, he had earlier said, “There is only one post in TMC, others are lamp posts.”
TMC has organized district and assembly constituency level press conferences on the outreach program in the last few days.
Addressing a press conference in Rashbehari assembly constituency, Kolkata South MP Mala Roy said, “We have seen that people are not getting the benefits of government schemes due to technical glitches or some mistakes in their applications.”
“To resolve these issues ‘Didir Doot’ (Didi’s messenger) will reach every household and solve problems so that people do not face delay in availing government benefits,” he said.
Rasbihari MLA Devashish Kumar, after unveiling the logo of the outreach program, said that 15 including Food Companion, Banglar Housing Scheme, Nijo Griha Nijo Bhoomi, Health Partner, Kanyashree, Shikshashree, Ekyashree, Student Credit Card, Laxmi Bhandar, Krishak Bandhu, Social Schemes Suraksha Yojana, Manvik Pension, Jai Bangla Pension Yojana, Bidhabha Bhata and Yuvashree will be covered under the outreach programme.
Addressing another press conference in Kashipur-Belgachia assembly constituency, local MLA Atin Ghosh said TMC leaders, including the MLA, would spend 10 nights each in rural areas to listen to people’s grievances.
They will cover 3,343 anchals (zones) across the state in the next two months. TMC will start the campaign on 11 January.
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had earlier said that party workers would reach out to people across the state and ensure benefits of the state government’s welfare schemes.
Panchayat elections are to be held in the state this year.