BJP accuses Mamata of moving around with corrupt

 The BJP today charged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with maintaining a double standard in her relationship with corrupt and tainted persons, saying she moved around with them freely, but once they were arrested she quickly disowned them.

The party demanded that she explain to the people her link with such "suspicious elements".

"She always maintains a double standard in her relation with corrupt and tainted associates and disowns them or denies any link once they are arrested. But she has to answer to people about her link with such suspicious elements," BJP state President Rahul Sinha said.

Sinha gave the example of the arrest of businessman Shibaji Panja, who was a member of her delegation to Bangladesh, at the Kolkata airport to prove his point.

"This has once again been proved with the CM stating that the arrest of businessman Shibaji Panja had nothing to do with his being a member of her entourage to Bangladesh," he said.

"I wonder the way our CM loves to stay with corrupt persons and I never heard if any member of the CM's entourage was arrested earlier. Earlier a coal mafia also accompanied her to Singapore for a business trip," Sinha alleged.

Criticising Banerjee on her attack on media, Sinha said, "How dare she attacks on media which is described as the fourth pillar in a democracy."

Banerjee had today snapped back at the media when she was asked about Panja's detention, saying she could have put them in jail also.

The BJP national secretary in-charge of West Bengal Siddharth Nath Singh said the arrest of Panja would once again disclose how the CM and her party were steeped in corruption.

"Now she has to answer to people about Panja's relation with her and her party and also what this businessman arrested in a case of financial fraud was doing in Bangladesh and Singapore," Singh said.

The businessman-cum-film producer Panja was detained at the immigration counter of the airport on a 'Look out' notice by the Delhi Police after the team landed here last night before being arrested. He was produced in a local court which release him on a personal bond.