West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Credit: PTI Photo
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday slammed the use of central investigative agencies for “political gains”.
The charge comes in the backdrop of the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee having been asked to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday.
In a different development, party MP Nusrat Jahan appeared before Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Kolkata, in a case related to alleged duping of flat-seekers.
Senior party leaders Shashi Panja and Partha Bhowmick, in a joint press conference, claimed that the actions are timed to disturb Banerjee’s political schedule and to malign Trinamool Congress.
The party further alleged that individuals with charges of corruption are being excused once they change their political allegiance, and support the BJP.
Banerjee, a member of I.N.D.I.A alliance’s coordination committee, has been asked to appear before ED on September 13, the day the committee is scheduled to hold its first meeting. “It can be deemed as a coincidence or it can be a politically motivated move to summon Abhishek Banerjee on the very same day,” Panja stated.
The summon, the party has said, comes after the BJP’s defeat in the recently held Dhupguri by-election, where Banerjee had also campaigned. The Trinamool questioned if the summon was because the BJP couldn’t accept its defeat.
“ED’s summon is evidently a clear move to obstruct the political calendar of Abhishek Banerjee and to stop him from attending the first meeting of the coordination committee of the I.N.D.I.A alliance,” a party release, alleged.
“CBI and ED are being used for political gains. These agencies are being used to malign the Trinamool Congress government in our state under Mamata Banerjee. One hundred and eighteen cases have been filed against Opposition leaders by the CBI, out of which 30 belong to Trinamool,” the party note mentioned.