Trinamul Congress all India general secretary, Àbhishek Banerjee today lashed out at the Centre and Union home minister Amit Shah for using Central agencies for satisfying their political vendetta.
He said,” They failed to beat us politically so they are using Central agencies against us.” He was speaking to media persons at Kolkata airport on his way to New Delhi to attend a summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged coal scam case.
Asked whether it was a political vendetta, Mr Banerjee said, “people of Bengal and across the nation will decide. I want to ask why I’ve been summoned to Delhi for a case in Bengal? Is it a political vendetta? But I’ll go and help in the investigation.” He also lashed out at CBI and ED for not summoning Suvendu Adhikari and Assam chief minister Hemant Viswa Sharma who were implicated in the Narada and Saradha scams.
“How can CBI and ED be blind to them? Adhikari is the leader of the Opposition in Bengal and the Hemant Viswa Sharma is BJP’s chief minister in Assam,” he said.
Trinamul Congress Rajya Sabha MP and the party’s chief whip in Rajya Sabha, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, earlier said the Central government is using Central agencies against their political opponents. He said the Central agencies, including CBI and ED, are prejudiced against the Trinamul Congress in West Bengal and “we have been noticing that every time before the election, CBI and ED come up with Saradha and Narada cases.”
Roy alleged that ED has charge-sheeted only Trinamul MLAs and ministers but conveniently left out an FIR named accused Suvendu Adhikari as he is at present in the BJP fold. While addressing the Press, he alleged that the Union home minister is using the Central agencies to take on the Opposition whom he failed to beat politically.
“This time CBI and ED are also targeting lawyers of Opposition leaders,” he said. Giving a rebuttal to BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, Mr Roy said, “It is clear from his statement that these Central agencies are deployed politically and they will only act according to the wishes of their political masters.”
Mr Roy said the BJP due to its anti-people policy is fast looing ground across the nation and especially in BJPrun Tripura. He said, “People of Tripura are with us. They are protesting the autocratic rule of the BJP and coming to Trinamul’s fold as a much better alternative. BJP has become unnerved and that is the reason they are attacking our leaders and workers.”
He also slammed Suvendu Adhikari for issuing show-cause notice to two BJP legislators who recently joined the Trinamul Congress.