KMC election: Roopa Ganguly hits out against BJP's Bengal leadership

Kolkata, Dec 19 (IANS) On a day when the BJP is struggling to keep themselves afloat in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation election, the party's Rajya Sabha member Roopa Ganguly on Sunday increased the embarrassment of the party, alleging that it has taken money from poll aspirants.Speaking to the media after exercising her franchise in Ward no 94 of the KMC, the actress said: "In many places, candidates have been given nominations against money". Though Ganguly didn't take the name of any person but her target was definitely the former state President Dilip Ghosh, present state President Sukanta Majumder and the Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.The ongoing controversy between Ganguly and the state BJP cropped up after party leadership gave a KMC ticket to Rajarshi Lahiri, instead of Gaurav Biswas, the husband of Teesta Biswas, the BJP's KMC coordinator who died recently in a car accident in East Midnapore.Ganguly backed Biswas to become the candidate of ward no 86 but he was denied the ticket and finally filed his nomination from the ward as an independent candidate. She even left the virtual meeting after Biswas was denied nomination.In an open letter Ganguly wrote afterwards, she said: "I don't have the power to put up hoardings anymore - if I had, I would have hung pictures of the two of you and said - I am with Teesta, I will stay."Later, she was dropped from the list of 19 star campaigners published by the party. Asked whether she was dropped because of her support to the independent candidate, senior BJP leaders declined to comment. There are even rumours that Ganguly, known best for playing Drupadi in B.R. Chopra's TV adaptation of "Mahabharat" might leave the party though she didn't make any comment on that.
--IANS sbg/vd

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