’Can go to Spain but can’t…’: Adhir Ranjan slams Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for foreign trips amid dengue outbreak

West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her recent trip to Spain amid the spread of dengue cases in the state saying that she can go to Spain but is incapable of understanding people's pain.

While speaking to reporters, he said, “We had already warned the state government about the rampant spread of dengue during August-September. This is due to the ignorance of the government towards the common people. They can go to Spain but cannot understand the pain of people here.”

Adhir Ranjan further attacked the Chief Minister for staying at a luxurious hotel in Spain during her trip to the European nation.

"We have heard that the Chief Minister does not take her salary. She sustains herself from the sale of her books and from her paintings. How could you afford to stay at a hotel in Madrid that costs ₹3 lakhs per day?" the Congress MP asked.

Describing the visit as a 'luxury trip', Adhir asked, "How much did you spend on this trip? Which industrialist have you brought here? Don't fool the people here."

"If 10 per cent of what you had spent in Biswa Bangla industrial meet would have come back, lakhs of those unemployed in Bengal would have got jobs. We want to know which Spanish companies want to invest in Bengal," he further slammed the CM.

However, CM Banerjee who returned to Kolkata on Saturday evening after a 12-day tour of Spain and the UAE said that her trip to attract investments to the state was "very successful". "It was a very good trip. I have not ever seen such a successful tour in my life. I am happy that I could do so much for Bengal," the chief minister told reporters at the airport here. She also said, "The meetings were organised by FICCI a Indian Chamber of Commerce. There were major MoUs signed."

Meanwhile, speaking of the Dengue outbreak in the state, six people who were diagnosed with dengue died on 23 September, taking this year's toll in the state to over 30, officials said as reported by PTI. of the six people died, two patients died at a private hospital in Kolkata while undergoing treatment while one of them was a resident of Salt Lake and the other was from Bagha Jatin, officials said on Friday. Two persons died in Ghatal in Pachim Medinipur, and two persons died in nearby Kharagpur, they added. Meanwhile, a migrant worker who returned from Kerala with symptoms similar to Nipah tested negative, a Health Department official said after receiving the report from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) where his sample was sent. The man is undergoing treatment at the Beliaghata ID Hospital and has a high fever, nausea and throat infection, he said.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)