'Khola Hawa' controversy: TMC, BJP in political tussle over Rabindra Jayanti celebration

Kolkata: Hours after an organisation ‘Khola Hawa’ launched the poster of celebration of birth anniversary of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore on May 9 where Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to attend in Kolkata, former BJP MP and now Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister Babul Supriyo said that he has left many ‘contribution’ in the Bharatiye Janata Party (BJP).

Taking to Twitter, Babul said in Bengali that this organisation ‘Khola Hawa’ was created by him along with former BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta.

“The name Khola Hawa, the logo and even the letterhead was made by me and by my artist Abhijit. Anjana Basu, Sanku Panda also took active participation in it. And Dilip Da (Ghosh) was an obstacle,” said the Bollywood singer-turned-politician in Bengali.

Countering the claims of Babul, BJP leader Shankudeb Panda in a facebook post said that Babul is ‘missing BJP’.

“The singer Babul is still missing the BJP. He is saying that he was behind creating this organization. Babul had also written several songs against TMC but then seeing ‘opportunity’ he defected to TMC. He as a singer can come to this programme and sings songs penned by Tagore. We are giving him an open invitation as it is a platform beyond politics. Don’t know whether Babul’s present political party will allow him to do so or not,” added Panda.