Kolkata:

Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy on Saturday stoked a controversy by warning opposition parties that party workers would "punch back" those who label every Trinamool Congress leader as a "thief".

Roy said at a meeting in north Kolkata's Dum Dum that he would not object if opposition parties Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) target former minister and suspended party leader Partha Chatterjee. But he should not make the 'mistake' of labeling every Trinamool leader as a 'thief'.

Roy warned the opposition, "If you make such remarks, then get ready for heavy punches on your back.

Don't complain again."

"If our leader Mamata Banerjee is described as the queen of corruption, you (opposition) don't know how the party workers will react in anger," Roy said.

When people get angry, they react in unexpected ways.

Roy had courted controversy at a meeting a month ago by saying that if the opposition branded the Trinamool as a party of thieves, shoes would be made from the skin of critics.

In another meeting a few days later, he had said that those in the opposition who label Trinamool workers as 'thieves', would be thrown out of their areas by party workers.

BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh hit back saying that Roy made this remark to strengthen his position in the Trinamool.


Ghosh said, "I ask Saugata da whether people in your party don't mind when one Trinamool leader after another is arrested in job scams and cattle smuggling cases, when Trinamool panchayat and Municipal officials loot money from central rural projects and deprive the needy?