TMC leader Santanu Sen alleged that the BJP speaks about women empowerment, but in reality they are anti-women.
“They are anti-women and anti-Bengali and that is why they had given nomination to him. But realising people’s anger, they were forced to back out,” he said.
Asansol is home to a sizeable migrant population, and the BJP had hoped that Singh would be an effective counter to Sinha, the actor-politician who was in the saffron party for decades before walking out in 2019.
The BJP apparently decided to nudge Singh to step aside from the contest to defuse the controversy, more so when the party has seized on the Sandeshkhali row to go after the TMC leadership.
Many women in Sandeshkhali have accused suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his associates of sexual assault and land grabbing.
Sheikh and many of his cronies have been arrested.
