Why 18 contracts to one man?: BJP MLA publicly calls out minister over extortion

West Bengal Health Minister and Bidhannagar MLA Sharadwat Mukherjee and BJP MLA Piyush Kanodia from the adjacent Rajarhat New Town constituency publicly clashed over allegations of extortion and cut money during a grievance-hearing programme in Dum Dum Park on Tuesday night.

Kanodia, who arrived at the programme as Mukherjee was hearing complaints from residents, openly raised several allegations in front of the minister, including an attack allegedly carried out by BJP workers at the house of Nitai Dutta, vice-chairman of the South Dum Dum Municipality and a close aide of jailed TMC leader Sujit Bose.

Mukherjee initially questioned Kanodia’s presence at the programme, telling him, “Why are you here? You are not the MLA of this area; why have you come?”

Kanodia responded that he had been a resident of Dum Dum Park for a long time and had come as an ordinary citizen. Mukherjee later came down from the stage and pulled Kanodia onto it, after which the two MLAs had several public exchanges.

The confrontation came as Mukherjee was hearing complaints about corruption, extortion and cut money in his constituency. Several people submitted letters without disclosing their identities, alleging that large-scale extortion was taking place in the area.

Kanodia also took the microphone and spoke directly to Mukherjee, raising concerns about people allegedly involved in corrupt activities becoming active again. He cited the example of Kalipada Samanta of the Lalkuthi area and urged the minister to ensure that such people did not return to action.

The New Town MLA further charged at Mukherjee, saying, “There are people from your constituency sitting here. One person has got contracts for streetlights at 18 places. Why has he got those contracts? With whose help? Give me an answer.”

Mukherjee acknowledged the allegations, saying, “I accept that extortion is taking place here. This is what I believe, even if others do not agree with me.”

He also acknowledged that he had not been available for the past four months.

Mukherjee later pointed to the complaints of extorting money from puja organisers and allegations of cut money, saying most of these complaints had come from people who had not disclosed their names.

He then referred to the BJP’s slogan of “Fear out, trust in”, saying that after nearly five months of the BJP government, he accepted that fear had not been weeded out.- EndsPublished By: Sayan GangulyPublished On: Sep 23, 2026 19:54 IST