New Delhi: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is like god and she can do no wrong, West Bengal minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said on Sunday. The minister also asserted that even priests can sometimes turn out to be thieves but gods can never do any wrong, news agency PTI reported.
The minister’s comments, which triggered a row, comes in the light of allegations of irregularities in school recruitments, with several Trinamool Congress (TMC) senior leaders, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee, arrested.
Addressing a public meeting at Khardah in North 24 Parganas district, Sovandeb said, "Mamata Banerjee is like a god who we worship. Even the priests worshipping the god can at times be a thief but not the god, the idol he worships." "Even I can be a thief, but not Mamata Banerjee," he added.
Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, the agriculture minister, alleged that several irregularities in educational institutes happened during the rule of the CPI(M) but those were never investigated.
He alleged that a person was appointed registrar of a university during the previous Left Front government, even though he did not have 50 per cent marks in graduation and post-graduation. He said that undeserving candidates were also appointed as professors in various state-run universities and these things were overlooked.
Refuting the allegations, CPI(M) MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said the court has already dismissed the charges being made by Chattopadhyay. "Now, people will punish them for their sins. They have lost ground among the people, so they are making such statements," he said.
Responding to Chattopadhyay's comment about the chief minister, the BJP said that TMC leaders were making such statements in desperation. "TMC will bite the dust in both panchayat and Lok Sabha elections if the polling is free and fair," BJP leader Rahul Sinha said.