A day after BJP chief Amit Shah accused the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal of shielding the guilty in the Saradha scam and Burdwan blast, the Trinamool Congress on Monday alleged that Shah has been named in a “red diary” purportedly recovered from jailed Sahara group chief Subrata Roy. Raising the issue in Parliament, TMC members disrupted the proceedings and clashed with BJP MPs in both the houses. Waving “red diaries” with “Sahara” written on the cover, TMC members rushed to the well of the Lok Sabha, before staging a walkout later. Party leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay had given a notice for suspension of question hour to discuss the issue, but it was rejected by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu asked the chair not to record the TMC’s submission, saying the “rules do not provide to take the name of the people who are not present in the house.” The Speaker ordered Shah’s name to be expunged from the proceedings.In the Rajya Sabha, TMC leader Derek O’ Brien sought to raise the matter during zero hour and then again during question hour, but wasn’t allowed to do so. As BJP members shouted him down by raising the Saradha issue, TMC MPs staged a walkout. In the Rajya Sabha, TMC leader Derek O’ Brien sought to raise the matter during zero hour and then again during question hour, but wasn’t allowed to do so. As BJP members shouted him down by raising the Saradha issue, TMC MPs staged a walkout. TMC MPs also staged a demonstration outside Parliament, waving red placards and “red diaries”. “The red diary was found on November 22. We have a photocopy of one page of that diary which has Shah’s name and the initials NM. We want to know what is being done about these entries and who is NM,” alleged O’Brien. “We want to know why they are being secretive about the names. Why is CBI not revealing the names? We will not let it go. We want a discussion on the issue,” said Bandyopadhyay. The TMC plans to keep up the pressure. O’Brien has been allowed three minutes to raise the matter during zero hour on Tuesday. Accusing the TMC MPs of indulging in “unparliamentary” behaviour, Naidu later said: “They are very worried. They are disturbed and perturbed about the massive response our party president got in Kolkata yesterday. That’s the reason for this reaction”. Naidu said, “They have no right to take names. So on all these counts, what the Trinamool did in the house today is totally unparliamentary.” BJP leader Kirit Somaiya said in the Lok Sabha that the West Bengal government was creating “hurdles” in the CBI investigation into the Saradha chit fund scam, claiming that the names of “one dozen” Trinamool leaders had cropped up. “The state government is not cooperating with the CBI probe,” he alleged. Condemning the TMC’s allegations as “baseless”, BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said the party was trying to “divert” attention from the Saradha scam and the Burdwan blast. “The TMC leaders are shocked at the massive crowd that turned up for the BJP chief’s rally. They never thought people are so angry with the government,” Sharma said. At his rally in Kolkata yesterday, Shah had threatened to “uproot” the TMC from West Bengal.
