Trinamool Leader Sparks Row With Social Media Post, Issues Clarification

(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, Sep 28 (IANS) Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, the new Chief Whip of Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha and four-time MP from Barasat constituency in North 24 Paragans district of West Bengal, has sparked a row by making a controversial social media post a day before the state is set to celebrate the four-day Durga Puja festival.

Ghosh Dastidar, a medical practitioner in personal life, posted her picture along with the Goddess Durga idol of the puja at her residence, and made a statement claiming that Goddess Durga would destroy those who would try to harm her.

"I wish everyone a happy Sharadiya. The Goddess, who destroys the demons and whom I worship, is with me. She will destroy those who are trying to harm me. I have never knowingly done anything wrong. As long as the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee are with me, no one will be able to get me defeated," she said in a social media post.

Political observers feel that recently, there has been a thorough reshuffling in the multi-level leadership of Trinamool Congress in Barasat Organisational district, and in that reshuffle, many erstwhile office-bearers close to Ghosh Dastidar lost their posts.

They say the controversial statement by the four-time Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member was hinting at the organisational reshuffle within her Lok Sabha constituency.

However, later on Sunday, Ghosh Dastidar issued a clarification after knowing that her statement was snowballing into a controversy at the beginning of the festive season.

"This was just my wish for Maa Durga. I do not have the temerity to say anything about a political party that had been established and nurtured by Mamata Banerjee. I will die holding the party flag high. My target was mainly those in the opposition parties who are trying to harm me or get me defeated," she said in her comments on Sunday afternoon.

Earlier this year, she was appointed as the Chief Whip of Trinamool Congress' Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha after her predecessor and four-time Lok Sabha member, Kalyan Banerjee, stepped down from his position.

She is among the five four-time Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha members since 2009, the other four being Sudip Bandopadhyay, Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, and actress-turned-politician Satabdi Roy.

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