In the wake of cross-voting allegations against Trinamul Congress in presidential elections, the CPM state secretary Md Salim alleged that Mamata Banerjee is once again helping BJP by not choosing to vote in the vice-president (VP) elections so she can save her “corrupt” MLAs from central probe agencies.

The TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, during her Martyrs’ Day address yesterday, alleged that the BJP was creating pressure using central probe agencies during the presidential election. The Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari today alleged that one TMC MLA voted for BJP’s presidential candidate, Draupadi Murmu, while four other TMC MLAs “ensured” their votes were regarded invalid.

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The CPM state secretary Md Salim asked “If Mamata is alleging that CBI and ED were used to create pressure during the presidential election, then is it again the same pressure that is keeping the TMC away from voting in the Vice-President election too?” He alleged that Trinamul is repeatedly helping the BJP openly and people are well aware of that. “The entire state saw how a meeting was surreptitiously arranged in the hills between the BJP’s VP candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar, Mamata Banerjee and the Assam chief minister. A palpable fear was apparent.”

Citing an example of the favours received by TMC from the BJP, he alleged that the CBI and ED had all evidence against Abhishek Banerjee and his wife, relating to coal smuggling and money laundering, and yet their names were omitted from the charge sheet. “Even CCTV footages were available. TMC leaders are robbing money from central government schemes, depriving common people of the benefits. None of the corrupt MLAs in TMC will be spared eventually.”

Mr Salim further said that Mamata’s request to people to hand over any party member to police in case of extortion was to ensure that her corrupt MLAs don’t fall in the hands of the enraged public or in the hands of the central probe agencies. “She is ensuring they remain protected in police custody. For the Martyrs’ Day event, the INTTUC extorted people so funds can be raised to host the gala event.”

“Mamata is talking about rejecting the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha polls but people of Bengal have already subjected her party to dejection and soon, rejection too shall follow. Voters of this state saw how the TMC MLAs that were bought over by the BJP before the Assembly elections, returned to TMC after polls in a buy-back policy. Can any of these corrupt MLAs say with conviction which party they represent now?”

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has put forward the party’s stand in detail, yesterday. “The party has utmost respect for Margaret Alva and her work. We have a problem with the mechanism through which Alva’s name was selected. We do not have any objection towards the candidate but the process of selecting the candidate. There is no question of cross-voting in any case. No vote from Trinamul went to the other side. There are a lot of new legislators as well. Whether there was an error or some other matter, that will be looked into. But there was no cross-voting from Trinamul’s side,” said Kunal Ghosh, Trinamul state general secretary.