Actor-politician Tapas Paul's death has kicked up a political storm in West Bengal, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday blaming the Centre's "vendetta politics" for it and the BJP hitting back insisting "neglect and mistreatment" by the TMC caused his demise.
Paul, a two-term former TMC MP, died at the age of 61 in Mumbai on Tuesday after a heart attack.
The actor-turned-politician was an accused in the Rose Valley chit fund scam case and was in jail for over a year. He was the brand ambassador of the Rose Valley group.
Banerjee, while paying homage to Paul, alleged that another TMC leader Sultan Ahmed had also died of cardiac arrest as he was under stress after being named an accused in the Narada tapes scandal of 2016. Ahmed, a former Union minister, had died in 2017.
The wife of party MP Prasun Banerjee, too, died because of the Centre's "vengeful" politics, the TMC supremo claimed. Prasun Banerjee's name had also cropped up in the Narada tapes scandal and was subjected to interrogation by both the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.
Narada scandal was a sting operation in which several top TMC leaders were purportedly shown on video accepting bribes for extending favours.
"Tapas Paul was under tremendous pressure from central agencies and was a victim of the Centre's vendetta politics," she told reporters at Rabindra Sadan where Paul's mortal remains were kept for people to pay homage.
Sharply reacting to Banerjee's comments, Union minister Babul Supriyo said, "She has little or no respect for Tapas Paul. He never got due respect in Trinamool Congress. TMC is a party mired in corruption."
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