Now, BJP MLA fixes CM’s ‘rate’ at 25L; his party says ‘don’t endorse’
Times of India | 22 August 2024
Kolkata: A BJP MLA from Bankura's Onda has fixed Bengal CM Mamata Banerj-ee's "rate at Rs 25 lakh" and asked her to take the money and get out of Bengal "with a molla", landing his party in an unseemly controversy at an inopportune moment.
"Your rate is Rs 25 lakh," BJP MLA Amarnath Shakha told a gathering in Bankura's Onda on Wednesday while demanding Banerjee's resignation and talking about the lapses in the Bengal administration following the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder."You get hold of a molla and leave, we will pay you Rs 25 lakh," he added.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya said, "BJP has said in the past, and again now, that we do not endorse such statements. It was made in his personal capacity."
An unapologetic Shakha explained his "logic" to TOI later on Wednesday. "She (Banerjee) has fixed different compensation amounts for different people. It is Rs 50,000 for some, Rs 1 lakh for someone else. She even tried to offer Rs 10 lakh to the RG Kar doctor's family," he said.
Senior govt officials said rape compensation claims were mandated by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013 and the SC's verdict in the Nip-un Saxena case in 2018. tnn
BJP MLA Amarnath Shakha remarks came three months after BJP Tamluk MP and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay asked at an election rally whether the Bengal CM's price was Rs 10 lakh.
The Trinamool Congress had moved the Election Commission then and Gangopadhyay was barred from campaigning for 24 hours.
The Trinamool Congress, forced on the back foot since the August 9 rape and murder, was quick to seize the opportunity to remind people of the BJP's "real self". " Sometimes it is a BJP MP (Gangopadhyay), sometimes it is a BJP MLA (Shakha) who set a ‘rate' for the country's only female CM. This is the true face of the BJP. How can those who make such vile comments ask questions on women's safety? Shame, disgraceful!" the party posted posted on its Facebook page.