The face-off between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to intensify in the coming days as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a protest in the national capital on Wednesday over her Cabinet colleague Madan Mitra’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Saradha chit fund scam.
Banerjee will protest the arrest of Mitra alleging that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre misused the CBI and got her Transport Minister arrested.
The precursor of what would happen on Wednesday was witnessed in the Parliament on Monday when draped in black shawls; TMC MPs staged a protest outside the House, accusing the Centre of misusing CBI.
Similar protests were witnessed in both the Houses of Parliament with the government hitting back at the TMC saying there was no question of the Centre carrying its political vendetta.
TMC MP Derek O’Brien said in Rajya Sabha, “The president of BJP is writing scripts for CBI. The agency is being used for political vendetta.”
Some of the MPs also displayed photographs of Sahara group chief Subrata Roy shaking hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trinamool has alleged that a diary — detailing financial transactions — recovered from Roy had the name of BJP president Amit Shah. But BJP had dismissed the allegation.
TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said, “Why has no investigation carried out against PM Modi. Picture shows he is close to Subrata Roy.”
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “There is no question of government or anybody being involved in what the CBI is doing. As far as the case is considered, it is monitored by the Supreme Court and there is no question for government to interfere.”
Soon after the CBI arrested Mitra on Friday evening in the Saradha scam, Mamata Banerjee had slammed the ruling BJP at the Centre, Modi and Shah, saying the arrest was “a conspiracy to destroy democracy in the country”.
