BJP dismisses Mamata’s allegation

That it was using CBI as a tool for political mileage

: Rubbishing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s allegation against the BJP of using the CBI as a tool to derive political mileage, State BJP President Rahul Sinha said here on Sunday that Ms. Banerjee is making “baseless and mutually contradicting” comments. He also regarded Ms. Banerjee’s comment as being against “political courtesy.”

Senior AITC leader and Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriya Mallick, however, rubbished the allegation.

“The CBI probe into the Saradha scam and the Bardhaman blast case has resulted in Ms. Banerjee’s discomfort and hence she is making such baseless allegations against the BJP,” Mr. Sinha said.

Mr. Sinha claimed that Ms. Banerjee has taken AITC MP Srinjoy Bose’s side who was recently arrested by the CBI out of fear that he might turn against the AITC the way Mr. Ghosh did.

He was referring to Ms. Banerjee’s comment whether the CBI arrested Mr. Bose due to her decision to attend the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru organised by the Congress.

As for Ms. Banerjee’s allegation that by getting AITC’s Rajya Sabha MP arrested, the BJP is trying to reduce its strength in the Rajya Sabha to get important bills passed, Mr. Sinha claimed that BJP does not need AITC’s support to pass bills as various other parties are willing to vote in favour of these bills.

He pointed out that the CBI has only arrested one AITC MP Srinjoy Bose and it was the State police that arrested Kunal Ghosh, another AITC MP for his alleged involvement in the Saradha scam.

“Ms. Banerjee alleged that BJP president Amit Shah is running the CBI. If she has evidence to substantiate her claim, why does not she present them before the Supreme Court?” said Mr. Sinha.

Referring to Ms. Banerjee’s instruction to AITC workers not to read a particular Bengali newspaper, the State BJP leadership claimed that the media has earned Ms. Banerjee’s ire as it exposes the truth about her government. Claiming that Saradha Group’s money has gone into AITC’s party fund, Mr. Sinha asked that if the bank accounts of two prominent football clubs in the city — East Bengal and Mohun Bagan — can be frozen by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged links with the Saradha Group, why cannot AITC’s bank accounts be frozen.

Dubbing Mr. Sinha an outcome of “a lack of understanding,” Mr. Mallick told The Hindu, “Perhaps Mr. Sinha did not understand the Chief Minister’s speech properly . She has justly said that AITC people are being targeted in the Saradha scam probe.”