JOIN USThe ghost of Saradha scam continues to haunt the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal with both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) coming out on the streets, demanding swift action against those involved in the multi-crore scam.
While the CPM wanted the “real” culprits exposed, BJP went a step further, demanding the arrest of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
While the city was left in the lurch with two large rallies coming in from two different parts of the city, Trinamool plans to send out a resounding reply in yet another rally on Wednesday.
The Left rally started from Esplanade in central Kolkata and marched all the way to College Square in north Kolkata. The BJP, on the other hand, started from College Square and marched to Esplanade.
Even though both rallies crossed each other and had the same rallying cry, supporters of both parties maintained their distance from each other. The BJP already stole the thunder on November 30 with party president Amit Shah having set a challenge before Mamata from the same spot where she holds all her major meetings.
Not willing to let their chance go at taking on Trinamool, despite a serious drain in energy and strength, the Left is trying its best to raise the issue of Saradha and involvement of Trinamool leaders.
The CPM-organised march on Tuesday saw the rare presence of former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, with party regulars Biman Bose and Surjyakanta Mishra, among others.
BJP state president Rahul Sinha, who lambasted the Trinamool, took dig at the Left and said the CPM is acting second fiddle to the ruling party. “The primary job of CPM now is to counter everything we do,” he said. With Kolkata living up to its name of a city of rallies and political marches, both the CPM and the BJP have few other rallies planned over the next few days.