Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced payment of Rs 50 lakh to Mohun Bagan Club after it had won the Indian Super League (ISL) on Sunday.
She visited the club tent and congratulated the players of the winning brigade this afternoon. She also handed over sweets to all the players.
Miss Banerjee made it clear that the club should be known as Mohun Bagan Club and not as ATK Mohun Bagan. “I have asked Aroop (Biswas) to take up the matter with Sanjiv Goenka to drop ATK from Mohun Bagan,” she maintained.
Miss Banerjee said, “Yesterday’s victory has made all of us proud,” and dreamt that Bagan will play with foreign clubs some day. We can all dream that Mohun Bagan will play with Brazil, Portugal and other teams some day.”
Miss Banerjee was honoured with the famous Green Maroon Uttariya by the club authorities. Swapan Sadhan Bose (Tutu), Debashis Dutta, Swapan (Babun) Banerjee, Satyajit Chatterjee attended the function. She placed green maroon Uttariya around the shoulder of Pritam Kotal, skipper of Bagan. Joan Fernando, coach of the team and Bastab Roy, assistant coach were also felicitated.
Miss Banerjee said after coming to power in 2011, the state government had given financial assistance to East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting to upgrade the field and gallery. She urged the people present on the occasion not to neglect Bengal’s football. She concluded her speech by chanting the famous slogan “Khela Hobe”.