Puja committee performs pre-festival ritual amid pol tussle

A south Kolkata Durga puja committee, mired in a political tussle between the TMC and the BJP, has performed its 'khnuti puja' ceremony under the supervision of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's brother and the ruling party functionary Kartik Banerjee.

The ceremony is usually performed by the organisers of the city's big-ticket pujas to herald the five-day festival.

Organisers of 'Sanghasree', one of the oldest and most-revered puja committees, had last week dropped BJP leader Sayantan Basu from its panel and appointed Kartik Banerjee as its new convenor.

Claiming that the previous committee, under Basu, was an "illegal one having little representation from the locality", the TMC functionary said, "The new panel consists of local people, those who had been involved with the Sanghasree Durga Puja for years."
Reacting to Basu's claims, state panchayat minister and the chief patron of heavyweight Ekdalia Evergreen Durga Puja, Subrata Mukherjee, said, "The BJP is making tall claims without understanding the sentiments of Bengalis."