By IANS,
Kolkata: Denying Trinamool Congress’s allegation that she was associated with an NGO which was patronised by the Left Front government during the chief ministerial tenure of her father Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Suchetna Bhattacharjee Tuesday said she was never associated with any such “NGO”.
Describing as a “false propaganda” the allegations being levelled by the Trinamool leadership and ministers by linking the NGO Aranyak with her and her father, Bhattcharjee also said it was a “complete lie” that she had taken money from the Tatas.
“It is being said from some quarters that I have an NGO. Trinamool ministers in the state and other leaders are alleging that I have financially gained immorally through my NGO. I would like to state that I neither had an NGO called Aranyak, nor was I ever attached with any NGO,” Bhattacharjee said in a statement.
Bhattacharjee said she was attached with an open forum “Aranyak” which had organised an annual wildlife film festival on four occasions between 2004 and 2007.
“Various organisers and personalities – all nature lovers and wildlife lovers – were part of the open forum. I was attached to it as a person. It was not a registered society.”
Claiming that this forum never received any government funds, she said: “I never made any financial gains through my association with the forum”.
She termed as “baseless” allegations that crores of state funds were spent on the wildlife film festival organised by Aranyak and said the facts would come out if the Trinamool government proved the matter as it had all the information on the issue.
“It is a completely false propaganda being made by Trinamool leaders and ministers by linking Aranyak with me and my faher. It is also a complete lie that I have taken money form the Tatas. In fact, those making such allegations, don’t have any information to buttress their point,” she added.
After Bhattacharjee questioned Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s honesty and accused Trinamool ministers and leaders of extortion, the ruling party Monday hit back, asking the veteran Marxist to come clean over affairs of an NGO run by his daughter.
Trinamool leader and Commerce and Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee accused the erstwhile Bhattacharjee-led Left Front government of patronising Aranayak, an NGO run by Suchetna.