lok-sabha-elections

Updated: May 05, 2019 14:42 IST

Bharati Ghosh, the BJP candidate from West Bengal’s Ghatal constituency, has kicked up a row by threatening Trinamool Congress workers.

In the video, reportedly shot at Anandapur area in the constituency, Ghosh can be seen telling two Trinamool workers that she will get 1,000 men from Uttar Pradesh to beat up locals. “You are frightening people... You won’t allow proper conduct of vote. Do not terrify people. (You) will be pulled out of homes and beaten like dogs,” Ghosh said.

Ghosh, once a close aide of the chief minister Mamata Banerjee, resigned in 2017, after she was transferred out of West Midnapore. She was soon accused of extortion by the state Criminal Investigation Department.

#WATCH:BJP candidate from Ghatal, WB & ex IPS officer Bharati Ghosh threatens TMC workers,says,"You are threatening people to not cast their votes. I will drag you out of your houses and thrash you like dogs. I will call a thousand people from Uttar Pradesh to beat you up." (4/5) pic.twitter.com/GvX650F6n9 — ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2019

The chief minister reacted to Ghosh’s remarks and asked her to stop threatening people. “If I share with people the text messages you sent me while in service you will be left nowhere. We could have arrested you long ago,” Banerjee said at a roadshow organised in Ghatal in support of her candidate and film star Dipak Adhikari alias Dev.

Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh backed the former cop saying she said the right thing while the Trinamool lodged a complaint with Election Commission of India, demanding cancellation of her candidature.