Kolkata: BJP MP Locket Chatterjee on Sunday courted controversy by calling upon people to retaliate if Trinamool activists assault any aggrieved person during the ruling party's ongoing outreach programme launched ahead of the panchayat election in West Bengal due this year.
The Hooghly MP made the comment in the context of a BJP leader getting slapped during Trinamool Congress's 'Didir Suraksha Kavach' programme in Duttapukur area in North 24 Parganas district on Saturday.
"If any TMC activist slaps you (commoners), if he doesn't want to hear your woes, tie him up with a tree and slap him four to five times," Ms Chatterjee said at a BJP meeting in Balagarh area of Hooghly district.
"The TMC runs the government. They are not working for the benefit of the poor. If they slap you for non-performance in their area, slap them harder," she said.
Reacting to Ms Chatterjee's comment, Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen said, "Locket Chatterjee is prone to making such tasteless comments. This shows the BJP is scared of the slew of development initiatives undertaken by our leader Mamata Banerjee." On Saturday, BJP Duttapukur mandal president Sagar Biswas was allegedly slapped by a TMC activist during 'Didir Suraksha Kavach' outreach programme when he approached the panchayat leaders to complain about the condition of roads in the area.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)