Jaitley says ‘disappointed’ with Mamata; her party hits back: NSA Doval RSS man
The Trinamool did not attend the all-party meeting convened by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Sunday.
The Trinamool Congress launched an extraordinary attack on the central government on Sunday, calling National Security Adviser Ajit Doval a “known RSS sympathiser”, and said it would give the government a “harrowing time” in and outside Parliament starting Monday.
The Trinamool did not attend the all-party meeting convened by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Sunday.
Trinamool spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien also attacked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying his criticism of the West Bengal government’s handling of the Burdwan blast was part of a “devious gameplan”.
O’Brien was responding to a Facebook post by Jaitley, in which he said he was “deeply disappointed” by Mamata’s reactions to the arrests in the Saradha and Burdwan cases.
“I was deeply disappointed with Mamta Didi’s reaction to the interrogation and arrest of some TMC leaders in the Sharada Chit Fund Scam… Some individuals connected with the TMC have been involved in making easy money from the Ponzi schemes. The schemes have looted small investors… It was incumbent on any responsible leader to purge the Party of such leaders. It is regrettable that Mamta Didi instead of doing that has chosen identify herself with the cause of these leaders,” Jaitley posted.
He added: “Similar is her reaction to the Burdwan blast. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has arrested several people who have engineered the blast. They are enemies of the State. The West Bengal Police or the other intelligence agencies have no substantive material to establish that the blast was stage-managed? If there is no such material, why has Didi chosen to allege that the blast was stage managed? Such allegations clearly help the actual culprits. This is neither responsible nor Nationalistic.”
In response, O’Brien said in a statement that Srinjoy Bose, the Trinamool leader who was arrested by the CBI in connection with the Saradha scam on Friday, was the “editor and owner of a reputed newspaper in Bengal”, and came from a “good gharana”. He asked the BJP leadership “a few straight questions”:
“Where did the BJP raise their billions of dollars to spend in the Lok Sabha elections? How much money was spent on Maharashtra and Haryana elections? Where is the party getting its massive funding to continue the lavish spending in Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand? Why don’t they provide transparent accounts for this unprecedented splurge? If the nation gets to know how much black money the BJP has spent this year on elections, the party will get black-listed,” O’Brien said.
He added: “The honourable Mr Jaitley has also written about the Burdwan blast and linked it to nationalism. Let me make three specific charges here: (i) This is all part of a devious BJP master game plan. (ii) The current PM used this narrative throughout his election campaign in Bengal. This wasn’t a mere coincidence. It was a plan. (iii) The NSA is a known RSS sympathiser. These devious plans are all conceived, drafted and approved at RSS HQ.”
Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Suvendu Adhikari told The Indian Express: “When the session begins, we will demand suspension of Question Hour and will seek discussion on the BJP’s electoral pledge of bringing back black money. We will also raise issues of curtailment of NREGS and deprivation of the state. We will start sit-in dharnas and other agitational programmes outside Parliament. We will give the government a real harrowing time.”
In his Facebook post, Jaitley also attacked the Congress, saying it had “damaged the national economy while in power and wants to pursue the same destructive direction while in opposition”. The Finance Minister contrasted the attitudes of the Congress and Trinamool with that of the government and the Prime Minister, who he said were working hard for India’s progress.
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