Panagarh (West Bengal):
Days after losing her cool with security personnel in Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee vented her ire at photo-journalists at a cultural festival in Burdwan district on Friday.
The latest outburst from Ms Banerjee came while she was inaugurating the 'Mati Utsav' or Earth Festival. "Can't u see that people are cooking here? I will give you one slap," Ms Banerjee reportedly snapped at photographers jostling for space to photograph her as she was going around the venue. The footage soon went viral on local TV channels.
However, Derek O'Brien, Trinamool Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha, has said Ms Banerjee is being unfairly criticised. "For some media Bengal's CM must be vilified every day, regardless of facts," he tweeted, adding, "Mamata Banerjee did not lose her cool with the media at an event in Panagarh yesterday. The story to that effect is a blatant, malicious lie."
The chief minister had recently been criticsed for shouting at security personnel at the Kolkata Book Fair on February 6.