E-Paper
‘KK wanted to leave, wasn’t allowed’: BJP’s Dilip Ghosh targets TMC for his death
Krishnakumar Kunnath, popularly known as KK, complained of chest pain on Tuesday night after he performed at a concert in Kolkata and collapsed in his hotel room
KOLKATA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dilip Ghosh on Thursday stepped up his party’s attacks on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over the death of 53-year-old singer Krishnakumar Kunnath — popularly known as KK — saying that popular singer “was forced to sing despite complaining of uneasiness”.
The singer complained of chest pain on Tuesday night after he performed at a concert in Kolkata and collapsed in his hotel room. He was declared ‘brought dead’ at a private hospital and an initial autopsy report at the state-run SSKM hospital indicated cardiac arrest as the cause of death.
KK, who was in the city for shows organised at south Kolkata’s Nazrul Manch by two colleges on Monday and Tuesday, performed at a programme organised by Gurudas College.
Dilip Ghosh said Trinamool leaders were involved in organising the concert.
“The man died while performing in Kolkata. It was not a programme organised by any college. TMC leaders organised by the programme. He was forced to sing despite complaining of uneasiness. He was feeling unwell and sweating. He wanted to leave but was not allowed. He was murdered,” said Dilip Ghosh, BJP vice president told reporters in Kolkata.
The Trinamool Congress promptly hit back, underlining that the baseless allegation was Dilip Ghosh’s effort to stay relevant within the BJP after being reprimanded by the party leadership for attacking his party colleagues including his successor, Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar.
“KK’s manager knows better than Ghosh. It is the BJP’s culture to engage in such cheap and ugly politics over death. As for Dilip Ghosh, it is a struggle for existence. He has been censured by the party. He is under tremendous pressure and that’s why making such statements,” said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
Ghosh’s claim comes a day after leaders of opposition parties in West Bengal alleged mismanagement of the venue and accused ruling TMC workers of having “oversold” tickets to the show. The Bengal’s BJP and Congress have already demanded an inquiry into the circumstances around the singer’s death.
BJP’s Bishnupur MP Saumitra Khan also waded into the row soon after with a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah that sought a probe into KK’s death by a central agency, saying he had many doubts about the death. Among the six points underlined by the Lok Sabha member in his letter was the presence of TMC workers at the hospital where KK was taken and the reported refusal of authorities to let BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari into the facility. He also claimed that the air conditioning system at the auditorium wasn’t working.
Videos from the concert showed KK sweating profusely and an employee at the auditorium said it was overcrowded during the singer’s concert.
On Wednesday, Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim said the AC system at Nazrul Manch was in “perfect order” but the ACs became virtually useless since 7,000 people had gathered at a place meant for 2,000. “Yet, he kept singing,” said Hakim, who also heads the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority that owns Nazrul Manch.
