Kolkata: BJP's national vice president Dilip Ghosh courted controversy by saying senior Trinamool Congress leader Sougata Roy "will be beaten up with shoes" for a comment he had made while attacking the critics of his party.

Ghosh's remark drew a sharp retort from Roy who claimed the BJP leader lacks "formal education'' and is in touch with the TMC as he no longer enjoys the confidence of the saffron camp.

While terming that it was unfair the way the TMC was being maligned by opposition parties following the arrest of two of its leaders in different cases, Roy had said that shoes will be made by peeling off the skin of those who believe they can get away by maligning the party under the garb of protest.

However, he later regretted making such a remark.

"Sougata Roy is a veteran politician. He was a professor once upon a time. But we are stunned to hear the language he used to attack the opposition. He is telling his party cadres that shoes will be made by peeling off the skin. The day is not far away when people will beat him up with shoes. The TMC leaders will be beaten up with shoes in various parts of the state," Ghosh said on Thursday.

Roy said he did not want to react to the BJP leader's remark.

It's beyond my dignity to comment on what a person with little or no formal education is saying. Dilip Ghosh himself is in touch with our party as he no longer enjoys the confidence of the BJP leadership, he said.

Ghosh had also claimed that such comments show that TMC leaders are now scared as two of their senior colleagues Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal are behind bars.

Chatterjee was arrested by ED in connection with the school recruitment scam, while Mondal was arrested by CBI for allegedly not cooperating with it in a cattle smuggling case.