West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today censured veteran CPI(M) leader Anil Basu for using expletives against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at an election meeting, while the Trinamool Congress demanded his arrest.
Asking Mr. Basu, a former MP, to be cautious in future, Mr. Bhattacharjee said in a statement “use of such words is unpardonable and unbecoming of a communist leader.”
The Chief Minister said he had asked the party to warn Mr. Basu. “I don’t want to hear any such use of words in future.”
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Mr. Basu, who had won the Arambagh seat for the seventh time in a row in the past and recorded highest margin in the State in a Lok Sabha election, used expletives against the Trinamool chief in the presence of senior local party leaders.
Trinamool Congress leader and Opposition Leader Partha Chatterjee, said “We presented to the chief electoral officer with papers and video clippings of Mr. Basu’s speech and demanded that he should be arrested and jailed for the offence.”
Mr. Chatterjee said “the way the CPI(M) leader attacked a woman is detestable and highly derogatory.”
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CEO Sunil Gupta told PTI that he had asked the Trinamool Congress leaders to submit a written complaint “so that we can look into it.”
Later, West Bengal state secretary Biman Bose said, “The party and the Left Front does not endorse the kind of language used by Anil Basu.
“Mr. Basu will publicly make a statement on his comment,” Mr. Bose said.
When approached by newsmen for comment, Mr. Basu said, without elaborating, “Let Mamata say what she think abouts the remarks made by her so long.”
When he was told that the chief minister had asked the party to caution him for his expletives, Mr. Basu said, “I will see him.”