'Take Suvendu in custody to decipher source of cash seized from Cong MLAs'

KOLKATA: Claiming that the Bengal Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari was one of the first persons to hint at a conspiracy that BJP would form governments in Opposition-ruled states, Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday demanded that if needed the BJP leader must be taken into custody during investigation into the recent cash seizure case involving three Jharkhand Congress MLAs to know more about the source of the recovered money.

"If needed, he (Suvendu Adhikari) should be taken into custody during the investigation because we feel he knows everything – the source of money, the conspiracy, how many people were targeted, and what hotel would be used. BJP's game of toppling governments includes crores of money and five-star hotels," said TMC leader Jay Prakash Majumdar, while addressing a press conference at Trinamool Bhavan on

Sunday afternoon.

According to Majumdar, on May 13, 2019, Rs 1 crore was recovered from Dilip Ghosh's chief aide Gautam Chatterjee at the Asansol station. Law and order was under the Election Commission back then. "The election for the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency took place on April 19 while Midnapore went to polls on May 12 – a day before Chatterjee, an RSS worker, was caught with the money. Dilip Ghosh was worried after the incident and I know this because I was in the BJP at that time. They made several calls to ensure that the matter died down quickly and Chatterjee was freed soon enough. Dilip Ghosh should be questioned on this," Majumdar claimed.

Taking a dig at Congress, the TMC said that the Congress leaders—who were behaving as 'note experts' for the past 3 to 4 days— must use their knowledge to find the source of the money recovered from their own leaders.

"If Congress is claiming that somebody has given money to their MLAs to topple the Jharkhand government, they should demand an inquiry involving those who said they would topple the Jharkhand government. It should be investigated whether they are linked to this "note scandal" or not. But why is Congress silent now? Why are your MLAs carrying so much money without any reason? Where is this money coming from? If they feel that this is a conspiracy, they should target Suvendu Adhikari or those BJP leaders who had given an impression that BJP would move to other states to form the state government,"TMC leaders said.

Alleging that the BJP has used Central agencies as tools to grab power in states where they did not win, the TMC leaders hoped that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was as proactive in this case as it had been in other cases. "Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar said Suvendu Adhikari had gone to Nagpur "for an operation" and we would know the outcome in two to three days. And exactly 2 to 3 days later, Jharkhand Congress MLAs were found with the unaccounted cash. Keeping these developments in mind, we want to say that it is the BJP that should prove its innocence," the TMC leaders stated, adding that Suvendu Adhikari must be asked what Sukanta Majumdar meant by "Nagpur operation."

TMC claimed that Jharkhand Congress leaders had registered complaints saying that their MLAs had gone to meet Assam BJP leaders and the cash was discussed there. Meanwhile, TMC leader Shashi Panja claimed the BJP was not allowing the opposition to raise people's voices against GST and other issues in Parliament.