Mamata meets party MPs, briefs them on House etiquette

Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called all her elected MPs to her south Kolkata residence on Saturday to brief them on how to conduct themselves in Parliament.

Mamata is said to be thinking about the BJP making inroads into West Bengal. The saffron party’s emergence has led to the question as to how it could eventually bring changes in the state’s political scenario in the coming days.

Although the saffron party has won just two seats, one more than it did in 2009, the BJP’s vote share has shown significant rise from just 6 per cent in the past to 17 per cent this time. In fact, analysts and many Trinamool leaders believe that the BJP is all set to emerge as the second major force in the state after Trinamool, usurping the position from the Left.

Despite winning 34 of the 42 seats in Bengal and emerging as the fourth largest party nationally, after the BJP, Congress and the AIADMK, the Trinamool is said to be perturbed. Besides the lotus bloom in the state, the TMC is worried about the looming spectre of a CBI probe into the Saradha chit fund scam, in which a number of its minsters and persons close to the party are allegedly involved.

A TMC leader said: “It is a well-known fact that the CBI has often been used to put pressure on political detractors and even allies. Modi could do the same regarding the CBI probe into Saradha scam and the Trinamool has enough reasons to feel somewhat despondent.”

Sources within the party said senior party leaders have been named in the corridors of power ever since the investigation into the scam began as Saradha chairman Sudipto Sen had named some top minsters and leaders in a letter to the CBI.

 If the probe agency is to call people according to that letter, the TMC would be in for a trouble and Mamata would face a huge embarrassment.