‘Mamata Banerjee should leave her cunningness…’: Congress’ Adhir Chowdhury amid RG Kar impasse

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday amid the ongoing RG Kar impasse. Junior doctors in the state have been holding a ‘cease work’ protest for more than a month following the rape and murder of a Kolkata medic.

“For the past several days our students and children are protesting over this issue...we have been requesting the CM to meet the protesters once but she didn't meet them...When she (finally) went to meet them…she did not leave her cunningness behind,” he alleged.

The senior Congress leader has been a vocal participant in protest rallies following the attack and has repeatedly called for Banerjee to resign. 

Chowdhury reminded that the protesting doctors had put forward a five-point list of demands following the rape and murder of their colleague. He demanded that the Chief Minister ‘leave her cunningness’ behind and hold face to face talks with the agitators.

“At least one of their demands should have been met. If the Kolkata Police Commissioner had been removed from his post, would there have been an earthquake? One after the other tactics are being adopted in a planned manner to break the movement... What was the harm in fulfilling two to four of their demands?” he asked.

The remarks came mere hours after Banerjee made a surprise visit to the protest site and assured the junior doctors that she would look into their demands and take action if anyone was found guilty. Banerjee said she had been spending sleepless nights because the medics were agitating on the road amid rains and described her visit as the "last attempt" to resolve the crisis. Following the visit the agitating doctors had indicated their willingness to hold talks and resolve the ongoing impasse. 

(With inputs from agencies)