New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday demanded that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee either come clean over corruption allegations against her nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, or step down from her post.
Addressing a press conference here, Union minister Prakash Javadekar alleged that Abhishek received Rs 1.15 crore when he was director in the firm Leaps and Bounds Pvt Ltd from a realtor Raj Kishore Modi, who is under probe for criminal activities, including land grabbing.
Ironically, Mamata had staged a protest in 2009 demanding the arrest of Raj Kishore and accused him of grabbing land of farmers, the minister added.
“The real shocker is, Mamata who had opposed the permission given to the realtor later did not withdraw the permission given by the previous CPI(M) government,” he said.
“This is an open and shut case of corruption and quid pro quo…And therefore, she (Mamata) has lost her moral right to rule and she has to give convincing answers, otherwise she has to resign,” Javadekar told reporters here.
The minister further claimed that the address at which Abhishek and his wife, who was also a director in the company, were shown to be staying is the chief minister’s official residence at 30B, Harish Chatterjee Road in Kolkata.
“TMC is following ‘Vadra-Tejashwi’ model of corruption,” Javadekar added, referring to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar.
“We can conclude that the TMC, which they call Trinamool Congress, really stands for Total Mamata for Corruption…From Sarada to Narada and finally to Mamata,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
Taking a dig at the TMC slogan of ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’, Patra said, “the reality is ‘Aami, Aamar, Aamar parivar’ (Me, Mine, My family) for her,” and that “it is nepotism at its best.”
Linking it to corruption expose of other opposition leaders, including Tejashwi in Bihar, the BJP leader said, “This is the saga of Mahagathbandhan. The Mahagathbandhan what they are projecting for 2019 is a saga of nepotism, corruption and non-performance”.
—PTI