TMC launches protest in Kolkata, MPs lead procession to PM’s residence

From Kolkata to New Delhi to Bhubaneshwar, TMC MPs, leaders and workers held protests against Tuesday’s arrest of their MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay 

Trinamool Congress workers on Wednesday took to the streets in various parts of West Bengal to protest the arrest of party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay and staged a demonstration in front of union minister Babul Supriyo’s house here demanding his arrest.

TMC activists staged a protest in front of the housing society where Supriyo’s house is located, demanded his arrest and resorted to rail blockade at some places. TMC also took out processions at various places and organised rail blockade at Kankurgachi here and staged a protest in front of the CBI office here.

A TMC delegation led by party secretary general Partha Chatterjee also met the governor and complained of “political vendetta” by the Centre against TMC which is opposing demonetisation. He also demanded that CBI arrests Supriyo in connection with Rose Valley chit fund scam.

“They (BJP) cannot stop TMC by conspiring and arresting our leaders”, he said. On BJP’s demand of imposition of President’s rule, he said, “They can demand anything”.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh led a party delegation to Raj Bhavan and called on the Governor. BJP, whose office was attacked on Tuesday by the people carrying TMC flags, meanwhile, urged state governor, K N Tripathi, to send a report to the Centre demanding imposition of President’s Rule in view of “growing lawlessness” in the state.

Meanwhile, in Delhi TMC MPs on Wednesday took out a protest march towards the Prime Minister’s residence.The TMC parliamentarians were taken into police custody before they could reach 7 Lok Kalyan Marg. “We were marching peacefully towards the Prime Minister’s residence, but the police detained us mid-way and manhandled few of our MPs,” TMC leader Saugata Roy told reporters.

He added that as many as 36 MPs from the party took part in this protest march and they will continue to raise their voices against “injustice done by the Modi government”.

Agitated by Bandyopadhyay’s arrest, a furious Mamata Banerjee accused PM Narendra Modi of using central agencies like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department against his political rivals who were raising their voice against demonetisation.

With the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) bringing arrested Trinamool Congress (TMC) parliamentarian Sudip Bandyopadhya to Bhubaneswar, a group of party activists on Wednesday staged a demonstration outside the agency’s state headquarters here to protest against the action. Protesting against the arrest of TMC leaders, party supporters led by Ramnagar MLA Akhil Giri staged a demonstration before the CBI office here. Many members of the TMC’s Odisha unit and its state president Arya Kumar Gyanendra also joined the demonstration outside the CBI office here.

Sources in CBI here said Bandyopadhyay would be first sent to the Capital Hospital for medical examination before being produced in the CBI designated court. The investigating agency would seek remand of Bandyopadhyay as the TMC leader was not allegedly cooperating with the investigation, they said.

However, Bandyopadhyay’s lawyer Rajiv Majumdar said he would move a bail petition in the court as his client is unwell. “He is ill. We’ll move a bail application in the court,” Majumdar told reporters outside the CBI office here. He also challenged the CBI to prove Bandyopadhyay’ s involvement in the scam. Sources also said CBI was planning to interrogate both Bandyopadhyay and Pal together.

In a related development, Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Wednesday staged an angry walkout from a pre-Budget meeting saying there was ‘financial emergency and ‘political environment of fear’ in the country.

Mitra, who was in full attendance at the two-day meeting of the GST Council chaired by Jaitley that ended on Wednesday, said the Union Budget had become a “meaningless” exercise after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on new year’s eve, made announcements similar to a Budget presentation.