Suvendu releases his I-T returns, challenges Mamata to book him in corruption case

“Use all your might and the investigation agencies at your disposal; such as CID, Enforcement Branch, Intelligence Branch etc and prove that I have earned “A Single Paisa” more than what I have declared or have amassed any disproportionate asset or property. You have to publicly release the copy of the Title Deed of the land, situated at Harish Chatterjee Street; Kalighat, Kolkata, where you have been residing by occupying the land. Why don’t you let everyone know whether the possession is lawful or not,” the BJP MLA from Nandigram alleged.

“I hope you find the courage to accept my challenge. Blabbering in front of the camera is the easiest part, now follow it up with action,” he added.

On Wednesday, while addressing a press conference at Nabanna, the state secretariat, the CM said without taking the name of any BJP leaders said: “Those who own 60-80 trawlers, houses in anonymous names, petrol pumps and crores of unaccounted money are now making loud statements (against her ministers and leaders over their illegal properties). We did not look into those subjects earlier but are now putting all such documents in order. We can bring the cats out of the bag once the documents are made public,” Banerjee had said.

Without naming Adhikari, who was the chairperson of Haldia Development Authority when he was with the Trinamool Congress, the chief minister on Wednesday said: “We are not aware of the land rates which were sold by someone in charge of Haldia development authorities during his tenure as a minister. I formed the Digha Development Authority for better development. However, a large parcel of land was given to set up 600 hotels there. We did not dig up such things earlier. If we do so, the cat will be out of the bag,” Banerjee had said.

Countering Adhikari for his latest remarks, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh claimed the BJP leader’s quick reaction indicates that he is guilty. “Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind! Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s frantic response is nothing short of an overreaction fueled by fear and guilt. Mamata Banerjee made no direct accusations or single out any individual, yet Mr Adhikari rushed to preemptively tweet his income tax returns.

Why would he be so quick to react unless he felt threatened or exposed? Why would a leader, who claims innocence, feel compelled to go to such lengths to prove it? What is he so desperate to hide?” Ghosh posted on X.

The Trinamool Congress chief’s attack on the BJP leaders comes in the wake of the arrest of her minister Jyoti Priya Mallick by central agency, Enforcement Directorate (ED), in a case of alleged irregularities in public distribution system when he was the Food and Supplies Minister between 2011 and 2021.

Praising Mallick’s performance as the Food and Supplies Minister, Banerjee on Wednesday claimed that the alleged ration scam took place during the Left Front regime. “Do you know how we worked for digital ration cards? How we cancelled one crore false ration cards?… When I came to power (in 2011), truth be told, there were 1 crore fake ration cards. Those who are talking lofty things… they during the Left Front period… used to collect that ration (using fake ration cards). Where would the money go? Do you have any queries about that? It took us seven to eight years to do this work. I cancelled 1 crore fake ration cards. Many brokers took people’s rations and sold them outside. I have filed cases against them, got them arrested, and submitted chargesheets,” she had said.

“We were forced to buy rice from the Food Corporation of India. But one day they suddenly stopped selling it to us. The ration system was almost shut. Then our government decided that we would buy rice from farmers. I have been buying rice from my farmer for the past 4-5 years. I am giving free ration,” the CM had said.

“I tried to cancel many ration shops. I could not. We have to obey the court order. Every time we caught a broker, every time we talked about cancelling ration shops, we had to go to the court… (They) can’t show a single family who asked for ration and didn’t get it. The Central government also praised our efforts to digitise 100 per cent card,” she had said, adding, “It took time to do that. All is clear now.”