Bengal minister censured for controversial comments on Sandeshkhali mastermind

Kolkata: West Bengal minister of state in charge of correctional affairs Akhil Giri has been censured by Trinamool Congress for making controversial comments about the current whereabouts of the absconding party leader and the mastermind of the attack on ED and CAPF sleuths, Sheikh Shahjahan.

Trinamool insiders said that the party leadership has taken exception to his comments on last Thursday where he claimed that Shahjahan is currently outside the state and undergoing treatment.

Party insiders said that Giri was summoned to the office of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) mayor Firhad Hakim on Saturday evening where the latter explained to the minister how his comments have posed embarrassment for the party.

Hakim also advised Giri to refrain from making such comments in future, a party insider in the knowhow of things said.

The comments of Giri, according to party insiders, have been especially embarrassing as even 23 days after the attack on ED and CAPF officials in Sandeshkhali on January 5, Shahjahan has managed to remain elusive.

The opposition parties have already started claiming that when a member of the state cabinet is so sure about the whereabouts of the mastermind behind the attack, how could the police fail to track him.

On Saturday, Hakim gave an indication of the party leadership distancing from Shahjahan as he said that what the latter had done was nothing but a crime. Now after Giri is being cautioned for his comment regarding the whereabouts of Shahjahan, it becomes quite clear that Trinamool Congress is treading in an extremely cautious manner in the issue.

This is not the first time that Akhil Giri has posed an embarrassment to his own party leadership through his comments. Earlier, he had been in the headlines for making derogatory comments concerning the looks of President Droupadi Murmu. Later he had to apologised publicly on the insistence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.