BJP trying to weaken our party by ‘misusing’ probe agencies: TMC

Addressing a conference along with his party colleague and state minister Shashi Panja, TMC leader Partha Bhowmik said, “We have full trust in the judiciary. Jyoti Priya Mallick will get justice in court. He is our party leader in North 24 Parganas…There are five Lok Sabha seats in the district. The BJP is trying to use probe agencies and weaken us there, nut they will fail.”

Panja, who is the state minister for women, child and social welfare, alleged that the BJP-led Centre was “misusing” the CBI and ED in Bengal.

Questioning the timing of the ED action against the state minister, Panja said, “Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, agencies like the CBI, ED and even income tax authorities are being misused in Bengal. Why is Bengal the only state which is deprived of NREGA dues? At a time, when we are protesting against the Centre for not releasing the dues for Bengal, the agencies have started arrests and questioning (of TMC leaders).”

As per state government officials, the Centre owes around Rs 7,000 crore to the West Bengal government under NREGA.

“Also, there are media trials while an investigation is on. The media has already held the minister guilty. Another factor is that there is no timeline for the investigations. We welcome the investigations, but there should be a timeline. Sometimes when there are polls around, the investigations speed up. If an investigation becomes poll-centric, then the probe progresses slowly. For instance in the Saradha scam, the investigation is still going on,” said Panja.

As part of a Rs 2,500 crore ‘scam’, the Saradha group of companies had allegedly duped lakhs of customers, promising higher rates of returns on their investment. The alleged scam was busted in 2013. TMC heavyweight Madan Mitra was arrested by the CBI in alleged connection with the case and was later granted bail.

The state minister also questioned why the probe agencies weren’t interrogating BJP leaders whose assets have allegedly “risen many times in a short period of time”.

“Now, there is talk about an abnormal rise in the assets and properties of the arrested minister. Why shouldn’t there be a probe against BJP leaders whose properties rose many times in a short period. What about Saumitra Khan (BJP MP from Bankura) and the Adhikari family (family of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari)? Why will no one check their assets,” asked.

Reacting to the allegations, Saumitra Khan challenged minister Panja to a public debate. “I would request the minister to sit with me face to face. Just because her party leaders are thieves, she thinks everyone else is also so. I would request her to prove her allegations with documents.. I am ready for a public debate.”