New Delhi: Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the TMC, who were sharing the spoils of the chit fund scam, were put in their place, said CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on the Supreme Court verdict’s on Tuesday over the tussle between the CBI and West Bengal police.
A full-blown face-off between Chief Minister Banerjee-led TMC government and the Centre erupted after a CBI team moved to arrest Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar. CBI officials were denied entry to the top cop’s residence and were detained briefly too.
Escalating her confrontation with the Centre, Chief Minister Banerjee started a sit-in on Sunday night to protest against what the TMC called a ‘coup’ by Prime Minister Modi-led NDA government at the Centre. The TMC supremo ended her Dharna on Tuesday after the Supreme court’s verdict directed Kumar to appear before the CBI in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam probe. The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also said that no coercive step should be taken against Kumar, who will appear before the CBI in Shillong in Meghalaya.
Addressing a press conference Yechury said, “Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the TMC, who were sharing the spoils of the chit fund scam, were put in their place after the Supreme Court’s verdict. The agenda of the CPI(M) is clear – “defeat BJP, save India; defeat TMC, save Bengal.”
“The only thing which is objectionable here is when the CBI suo motu takes action and investigates without taking permission from the state government, it is considered as a violation. However, that is not the case here. So it is not an issue of Centre-State relation,” said Yechury.
Continuing his tirade against the BJP government and TMC supremo Mamata, Yechury stated: “The CBI must investigate the top leadership of the TMC as several MPs of the party have faced arrests and charge sheets in the past. I don’t understand what was the BJP was waiting since past five years to investigate the matter?”
Reacting to the West Bengal Chief Minister’s statement that the apex court’s order was a “moral victory” for her, the party’s MP in Lok Sabha Md Salim said that it was, in fact, a “tight slap on the face of the state government”, who falsely named various CPI(M) leaders in the chit fund case.
The CBI has been misused in the past, but in the West Bengal, the agency was investigating the matter on the orders of the court.
Taking a dig at Mamata’s three days dharna, Salim said: “Mamata started the protest to get media coverage as she became tensed after witnessing huge CPI(M) rally at the Brigade Parade ground on Sunday. Various TMC leaders who had been questioned in the Saradha scam have now joined the BJP. Now, both the parties are now playing a game of thief and police.”
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]