Communists blast Banerjee for KKR bash

Kolkata: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) has come down heavily on the West Bengal government for organising a winning bash for the Kolkata Knight Riders on winning the Indian Premier League V on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, Left Front Chairman Biman Bose said: "Have you ever seen any government organise celebrations for a club winning a trophy. Does the Mayor of London use public money to celebrate the win of Manchester United?"

Other leaders also questioned as to who funded this opulence, especially when the Chief Minister herself from the day of swearing-in had been complaining about lack of money and had been pressurising the Federal government to remit interest.

According to sources, the cost of Tuesday show cost the exchequer almost Rs5 million (Dh0.3 million), of which most came from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, which had co-sponsored gifts along with Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to felicitate the winning team. "This was done entirely to draw political mileage," said another CPM leader.

However, Shah Rukh Khan, owner of KKR and brand ambassador of West Bengal, stood by Banerjee and said there was nothing wrong in it. "There is no harm in being happy and sharing happiness. Nobody should criticise it. It's alright to be happy. Let's not be political. It has been done because we all are happy. There is nothing wrong if we bring a bit of happiness to the city of joy," he said.

The sports fraternity also did not take these celebrations rightly, as they see Banerjee trying to own the winning and get political mileage out of it. The Bengal cricket team very recently won the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in an inter-state competition after almost two decades, but the state government has not bothered to felicitate it.

Though there was a big turnout at the celebrations, not everyone was amused by Tuesday's celebrations. The social networking sites were buzzing with people protesting about the way an entire working day was lost for these celebrations and people who did not want to take part had a harrowing time due to traffic congestion.