Mamata Banerjee on Friday questioned the source of “thousands of crores that came into CPI(M)’s coffers” during its regime and attacked her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on the Saradha chit fund scam, which defrauded lakhs of people.
Hitting out at her predecessor, during whose tenure the Saradha Group started business, the Chief Minister said, “It was during your tenure in 2006. Shall I tell the names? As if you know nothing? The mother of thieves speaks in the loudest voice and empty vessels sound much. Where did thousands of crores of rupees come into CPI(M)’s coffers?” the Trinamool Congress chief said at an election meeting in Hooghly district.
“With whose bank account did the finance minister of the Left Front government ran his election campaign?” she asked.
“See who has committed the theft and who is being blamed for it? You will only see stars if try to find fault with the Trinamool Congress,” Ms. Banerjee said.
Alleging that a vilification campaign was on against the Trinamool Congress government, she said her party had not done anything against the Left parties as she did not want revenge.
She asked, “If we were in the opposition what kind of torture would you have done on us?” She said it was her government which took action by arresting the accused of the scam, formed a judicial commission and returned money to the defrauded investors.
Without referring to the opposition demand for a probe by the CBI into the Saradha scam, Ms. Banerjee said justice was yet to be delivered in the CBI probes into the Jnaneswari Express railway disaster which claimed over 100 lives in 2010 and in the Nandigram police firing in 2007.
