Kolkata:
Actor-turned-BJP politician Rudranil Ghosh, who had unsuccessfully fought the assembly polls, on Friday alleged that he was manhandled by Trinamool Congress activists while distributing relief materials to inmates of a camp in the constituency from where he had contested.
Speaking to reporters, Ghosh claimed, he was abused and slapped by a group of local TMC workers at the camp next to Bhabanipur Gurudwara in south Kolkata where people affected by waterlogging in the aftermath of cyclone Yaas had taken shelter.
The actor said a complaint has been lodged with the police.
Denying the allegations, TMC sources said, Ghosh was ”enacting a drama after being drubbed in the polls during which he had made offensive comments while campaigning.” Ghosh iterated that there should not be any politics in relief works for those who are affected by flooding of their homes during heavy rains and the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in the state.
”This is what has been often stressed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who repeatedly comes to the aid of people hit by disasters.
”But her partymen came in large numbers and without any provocation, manhandled BJP supporters, saying we won’t be allowed to carry on with distribution of relief,” Ghosh said.
Rubbishing the allegation, TMC leader Bablu Singh said Ghosh was not manhandled but persuaded by some locals, with folded hands, to leave the area.
”Suddenly he along with some BJP men started distributing food packets in the area. There is a process in doing everything. We inquired why he was doing it unilaterally without taking permission from the police given the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. They were also not following any Covid-19 protocols,” Singh said.
The seasoned actor who had received accolades for his performances in Vinci Da and Chaplin had switched over from the TMC and joined the BJP in January before the assembly polls.
