The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused West Bengal's ruling party, Trinamool Congress (TMC), of never giving former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly 'due respect'. This comes after Ganguly was appointed the brand ambassador of Tripura on Tuesday, after the state's tourism minister Sushanta Chowdhury met the former BCCI president at his Kolkata residence.
The TMC, led by Mamata Banerjee, said it was normal for states to appoint actors and cricketers as brand ambassadors and that the BJP was "politicising the issue".
On Tuesday, Tripura's chief minister Manik Saha had tweeted that it was a matter of pride for the state to have the former Indian captain accept their proposal to be the state's brand ambassador for tourism.
Sukanta Majumder, the BJP state president, said the TMC-led government of West Bengal never gave Ganguly his due share of respect, while the Tripura government, led by the BJP, did so, by making him the state's tourism brand ambassador.
Dilip Ghosh, the BJP's national vice-president, said, the TMC had shed 'crocodile tears' after Ganguly had been replaced as the BCCI president by former international cricketer Roger Binny last year.
Taking a dig at the TMC-led West Bengal government, Ghosh had said when they have a legend such as Ganguly in their state, why do they need anyone else as their brand ambassador? He said the TMC never bothered about the emotions of the Bengalis of the state. Currently, actor Shah Rukh Khan is the brand ambassador of West Bengal.
Sougata Roy, a TMC MP, hit back saying that it was normal practice for states to have actors and cricketers on board as brand ambassadors and that Tripura had not done anything outside the ordinary. Roy said the BJP was trying to politicise the issue deliberately. "We all know how the BJP humiliated Ganguly during the BCCI epsiode last year," Roy said.
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