Trinamool's Babul Supriyo defeated CPM's Saira Shah Halim by a margin of over 20,000 votes
In a sharp comeback to Trinamool Congress leader Babul Supriyo's remark after he won the Ballygunge bypoll, CPM leader Saira Shah Halim, who finished second, has said she and her party "believe in a classless society" and anyone judging her as having "no class" knows what he is up against.
Following his victory in the Assembly bypoll, results of which were declared Saturday, Mr Supriyo launched a scathing attack on Ms Halim and accused them of running a "filthy" campaign in the run up to the election.
"Even after a filthy deplorable campaign full of lies & deceit @CPIM_WESTBENGAL & Saira Shah Halim shows no class, forget shame. She is talking the same gutter language even after people threw them away in favour of @AITCofficial. BTW, her party remains a BIG ZERO in Assembly," Mr Supriyo had said, taking a swipe at the CPM drawing a blank in the Assembly polls last year.
Mr Supriyo, a former Union Minister who switched from the BJP to Trinamool last year, won the Ballygunge bypoll by a margin of 20228 votes, securing nearly 50 per cent of the vote share. Ms Halim, a rights activist and motivational speaker, finished at the second spot with a vote share of 30 per cent. The BJP's Keya Ghosh was a distant third.
Soon after the results came in, Mr Supriyo targeted his former party, the BJP, accusing it of not appreciating his hard work. He said the victory of Trinamool's Shatrughan Sinha from Asansol - where a bypoll was held after Mr Supriyo resigned following his switch to Trinamool - was a "slap in a platter" for BJP leaders.
He then turned to the CPM candidate, who said the results were a moral victory for her party. Mr Supriyo said she "doesn't show the grace to accept the defeat" and that she has "no class".
In response, Ms Halim tweeted, "We believe in a classless society, where rich and poor will not be differentiated by the wealth and property they own. Anyone who judges me as having 'no class', knows what he is fighting against."
Following the rebuttal, Mr Supriyo tweeted that he "shall continue to ignore her" and "her party's dirty filthy propaganda which a large majority rejected".
He added that he will "enjoy her failure to provoke me into a battle of words".