West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress Sunday retaliated against BJP president Amit Shah's call to book Saradha scamsters, and accused the BJP of politically using the CBI which is probing the multi-crore-rupee scam.Alleging that Mamata Banerjee was afraid to take action as her own 'cronies' were involved in the scam, Shah earlier in the day asserted that all those involved in the scam will be 'netted'."Can Didi (Banerjee) stop those who have taken the Saradha money? The answer is no, but we are not afraid of anybody because our workers have not done any scam. So, be it Saradha or any other, we will net whoever is involved," Shah said at a Bharatiya Janata Party rally in the city.Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee told media persons a few hours after Shah's address: "The BJP president today said Saradha will be its weapon, and our accusations that the CBI is being used politically have now come true."Amit Shah's address today vindicated our stand that the CBI was being used by some to derive political benefits," he said.
Probing the multi-crore-rupee scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has so far interrogated several people, including a former aide of Trinamool leader and state Transport Minister Madan Mitra.The agency has again taken into custody suspended Trinamool parliamentarian Kunal Ghosh.Ghosh who has repeatedly alleged the involvement of the Trinamool top leadership, Saturday dropped a bombshell, saying he should be jointly interrogated with the chief minister as well as scam kingpin Sudipta Sen.Ghosh's claim has come in the wake of allegations that in 2010, the Saradha group was favoured in getting a contract from the IRCTC for providing logistics support to the 'Bharat Tirth' project announced in the 2010-11 railway budget by Mamata Banerjee, who was then the railways minister.
Chatterjee also ridiculed Shah, who took a jibe over Banerjee's hunger strike during her anti-acquisition movement against the erstwhile Left Front government in Singur and Nandigram.
"Perhaps the BJP president was not informed about Trinamool's and Mamata Banerjee's struggle. Perhaps it is his ignorance that he is trying to undermine the struggles of thousands of farmers of Singur and Nandigram," Chatterjee said.Chatterjee also rubbished Shah's claim that only the BJP was capable of giving good governance."The bubble of expectation which the BJP had created has now gone burst. In its just 100 days, the party, which came to power riding on its advertising blitz involving crores of rupees, has now has started its backward journey," he said.