'Abhishek being harassed, notice sent out of political vendetta'

kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee was being harassed at the behest of BJP after they lost the polls, alleged party leader and state Education Minister Bratya Basu, hours after the TMC MP was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a coal smuggling case.

Basu further stated that the move was politically motivated.

"I think that Abhishek is being questioned in relation to the smuggling of cows and coal. Now, coal is guarded by the central agencies.

Besides, the narrative is that cows are being smuggled into Bengal from Uttar Pradesh and then smuggled into Bangladesh from here.

In that case, what is the administration of Uttar Pradesh doing about the smuggling? Borders are guarded by the Border Security Force (BSF)," the minister alleged.

Basu alleged that the ED by sending a notice to Banerjee is trying to malign the Trinamool leadership. He added that on Wednesday Mamata Banerjee had made reference to the alleged involvement of the leader of Opposition in transport scam, coal scam and cattle smuggling. "To take revenge the BJP sent notice to Abhishek on Thursday evening," he said. He stated that the ED is not interested to probe into the irregularities but to harass Trinamool leaders.

"BJP has influenced the agencies to send notices out of political vendetta. Its teeth and claws are coming out because of poor performance in 2021 Bengal Assembly election,"

he remarked