The daughter of Malda TMC president and Malatipur MLA Abdur Rahim Boxi was on May 28 appointed as the personal assistant (PA) of minister Sabina Yeasmin, Boxi's party colleague from the same district, sparking a controversy.

A member of the state cabinet, Sabina is the minister of state in the state's irrigation and waterways department.

Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP chief, brought the issue to notice through a post on X on Friday. “When lakhs of meritorious eligible young men and women are spending nights on the footpath, MOS of the irrigation and waterways department Sabina Yeasmin silently exercised her special influence to recruit the daughter of Malda district Trinamool president Abdur Rahim Boxi. How long would the state government continue such activities one after another keeping in mind the helpless youths of the state," Majumdar wrote on his X handle.

His post prompted BJP leaders in Malda, a district with around 52 per cent minority population, to play the polarisation card. Many from the BJP termed Bpxi's daughter Asifa Sabnam's appointment as a "stark example" of "nepotism" and "inhumanity."

“Across Malda, hundreds of eligible Trinamool workers and supporters need a job. The minister could have chosen any of them, but she chose the district president’s daughter. This is a clear case of nepotism,” said Ajoy Ganguly, the BJP president of Malda south (organisational) district.

Yeasmin said that the recruitment adhered to the rules and regulations and there was nothing "illegal" in it.

“A minister is entitled to recruit personal assistants on a contractual basis. This is nothing new. Even the Left Front and the Congress ministers offered such appointments during their regimes,” she said.

She lambasted the BJP for trying to create a sensation.

“We have many examples of illegal and unethical recruitments by the BJP MLAs and leaders. Some were appointed at the AIIMS (Kalyani), others in different departments. This is yet another example of the BJP’s dirty politics. It shows the party has become politically bankrupt,” Sabina said.

Boxi claimed ignorance of the entire controversy.

“I do not know anything about my daughter's appointment. My daughter is married and lives separately. I have not made any request to anyone for any advantage. I will try to know how she was recruited,” he said.