Mayor Gautam Deb on Friday threatened to serve a legal notice on BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh, demanding that the latter substantiate the allegations against him with proper evidence.
Trinamool Congress leader Deb asked the Siliguri MLA to produce proof of his allegations in the public domain.
“I do not want to respond to comments made by a person who finished third in the civic polls from his own ward of the SMC (Siliguri Municipal Corporation), where he resides. If he has sufficient proof regarding the allegations against me, he should make it public,” the mayor told journalists.
Ghosh, who is also the BJP’s chief whip in the Bengal Assembly, had staged a 24-hour sit-in hunger strike along with party leaders and workers at Hati More in Subhaspally from Thursday.
While talking to newspersons, he had alleged that the Trinamool government of the state and the SMC, where the party is also in power, were deliberately preventing him from utilising funds under the Bidhayak Elaka Unnayan Prakalpa (BEUP) or MLAs’ funds for local area development.
He had also raised questions over the mayor’s earnings and made a derogatory remark against Deb on social media. This has irked the mayor.
“I have instructed our party’s district youth president, Jayabrata Mukhuti, and senior leader Ranjan Sarkar, who is also the deputy mayor, to respond to his allegations,” Deb said.
On the mayor’s directive, Jayabrata Mukhuti, president of the Darjeeling district (plains) unit of the Youth Trinamool, criticised Ghosh, accusing him of indulging in political theatrics ahead of the Assembly elections.
The mayor also mentioned that Ghosh was a member, mayor-in-council at the SMC during the tenure of then mayor and CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya.
“The MLA could not absolve himself of responsibility for what he termed poor development during that period,” said Deb.
Ghosh, who ended his fast on Friday morning, has posted an open letter on social media. “I have mentioned how public money is being looted here in Siliguri and how I am stopped from utilising the MLA’s funds, which is not mine but people’s money,” he said.