West Bengal Chief Minister and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee threw a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the threat of staging an agitation in New Delhi.
“You may take people with you to the United States, to London, to Australia, and have selfies taken there; now if I go to Delhi are you ready to face the consequences,” Ms Banerjee asked at a rally in Kolkata on Monday.
Lashing out at the ongoing probe by the CBI on Saradha scam Ms Banerjee dared the Centre to arrest.
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“I am standing right here. Come and arrest us. How many can you arrest? Build as many prisons as you can,” the Chief Minister who hit the streets for the first time since the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls said.
Her comments are significant in the wake the recent arrest of AITC Rajya Sabha MP Srinjoy Bose for his alleged involvement in the scam. Ms Banerjee had on Saturday accused the Centre on indulging in political vendetta by using the CBI as a tool.
At the workers conference on November 22, Ms Banerjee had linked Mr Basu's arrest with her visit to New Delhi to attend the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru on invitation from Congress president Sonia Gandhi. However, on Monday, she ruled out possibilities of any immediate alliance with the Congress.
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“I went there only because Sonia Gandhi invited me and not to do any politics,” she clarified, stating that Trinamool will continue alone in Bengal.
Coming down heavily on the Centre’s economic policies West Bengal Chief Minister said that within just six months of coming to power, the BJP led government has been “selling the country”.
“By selling of everything does he hope get a Nobel Prize,” Ms Banerjee said in an obvious reference to the Prime Minister.
She put the blame on the Centre for the chit fund scam and said that her government has returned money to 5 lakh investors in the State.
“We are urging the Centre to make laws so that money can be returned. Two Bills from the State have been returned by the Centre,” she said.
The Chief Minister also raised questions about why border with Bangladesh are not being fenced and said that she also wants that cross border smuggling should end. Ms Banerjee added that it was the West Bengal police that arrested the main accused in Burdwan blast.