Union minister Babul Supriyo’s post on social media has drawn flak from all corners after being trounced in Tollygunge Assembly seat by Aroop Biswas.

In a Facebook post last evening, he wrote: “Neither will I congratulate Mamata Banerjee for her win in Bengal nor do I wish to say that I ‘respect’ the people’s verdict, because I sincerely think that people of Bengal made a Historic mistake by not giving BJP a chance and by electing this Corrupt, Incapable, Dishonest government and a Cruel Lady back to power !! Yes, as a law Abiding citizen, I shall ‘obey’ the decision taken by the people in a democratic country. That is!! Nothing more-Nothing less !!”.

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Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah mocked Supriyo and posted in social media, “Lets try and not be a cry baby”. Talking to The Statesman, state law minister Maloy Ghatak said that the comment shows how well Supriyo has absorbed the BJP’s core value which is not caring for principles of democracy.

“Being graceful in defeat is what democracy teaches. But BJP being an anti-democratic, autocratic party, can’t accept people’s mandate if it goes against it,” adds Ghatak. Supriyo deleted the post later in the day after being slammed. However, the BJP local leadership said the party has failed to achieve its target despite having two MPs-in Burdwan (west), losing six out of nine seats, because both the MPs have failed to make any impact in their respective constituencies.

Local BJP leadership blamed Supriyo for failing miserably to bolster organisation in Asansol. Due to poor selection of candidates the BJP has given away the seats of Asansol north, Raniganj, Baraboni, Jamuria, Durgapur east and Pandaveswar Assembly seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had taken lead in all the nine seats of the district.

When the ‘tainted’ candidate’s name was announced the local MP didn’t object leading to the poll debacle in Asansol bastion. In Asansol sub-division BJP has lost four of the six seats and two of the three in Durgapur. SS Ahluwalia is the Durgapur MP. Supriyo’s long absence during the Covid-19 first wave and lockdown has irked the people in his Lok Sabha constituency, political observers feel. Despite being a Union minister of state, he has failed to prevent the closure of two CPSU’s Hindustan Cables Limited in Rupnarayanpur and Burn Standard in Burnpur.