New Delhi, May 5
The TMC on Sunday accused the BJP of orchestrating the Sandeshkhali case after a video in which a man, who claimed to be a BJP mandal president, Gangadhar Kayal in Sandeshkhali, was heard saying that Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari was behind “hatching the conspiracy”.
In the video, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified, the man was heard saying that Adhikari had allegedly asked him and other BJP leaders of the area to instigate local women to level allegations of rape against TMC leaders, including Shajahan Sheikh, one of the main accused in the sexual abuse case.
The video was released by the TMC on May 4.
At a joint press conference, TMC leaders Shashi Panja, Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale accused the BJP of defaming West Bengal. They demanded that the BJP should apologise.
“It was a sinister plot by the BJP to malign West Bengal and create a mayhem so that President’s rule could be imposed in the state. The state BJP on the directions of Suvendu Adhikari has done this. In the video, it can be easily heard that women were given money to lodge fake FIRs,” Ghose said. Gokhale said while political fight was welcome, the BJP should not use false rape cases and bring disrepute to West Bengal.
“This is not targeting the TMC, but the people of Bengal. They deprived the state of funds, they deprived MGNREGA workers of work... Why are you making the people of West Bengal suffer? The Election Commission has not yet deemed it fit to intervene even once after the videos were released. The EC has shown no keenness on finding out the truth of what happened in Sandeshkhali. Would the EC stop the PM from making further remarks on Sandeshkhali?” he asked.
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