Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday expressed anguish at autorickshaws entering a housing complex in Ultadanga in an apparent show of disapproval against many residents there voting against the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Saha elections.
At a meeting in Nabanna on Tuesday evening regarding the upcoming byelections in the Maniktala Assembly constituency, Mamata asked the councillor of the Ultadanga neighbourhood — where the apartment is located — whether he was involved in the act, said a Trinamool leader who was at the meeting.
The councillor, Santi Ranjan Kundu, denied his involvement. Mamata then said people had the liberty to vote according to their wishes.
“Didi said if the councillor was involved in this, he should go and apologise to the residents of the complex. She said that people were free to vote according to their wishes and what happened should not have happened,” said the Trinamool leader.
Mamata also spoke out against what happened in Kasba where alleged supporters of two Trinamul Congress councillors — Susanta Ghosh and Lipika Manna — fought with bombs and bullets on Sunday night. Several, including a homemaker, were injured.
Mamata said after the meeting that clashes between supporters of party councillors “send a wrong message to common people”.
She said she would not allow the party’s councillors to cause inconvenience to common people.
Allegations of Trinamool councillors targeting places and apartments from where they perceived the party did not receive many votes have surfaced since the Lok Sabha results were declared.
CCTV footage emerged showing motorcycle-borne men hurling something towards the gate of a highrise building in Bhowanipore early on June 6. Many living in the neighbourhood alleged that they suspected it was the handiwork of local Trinamool supporters.
Heaps of garbage were allegedly dumped outside the gates of a housing complex in Beleghata on June 6 by waste collectors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) allegedly to avenge the perception that many residents of the apartment voted against Trinamool.
A video of waste collectors dumping garbage outside the complex had started circulating on June 8.
