Kolkata: A Trinamool Congress delegation will meet President Ramnath Kovind on Monday demanding the removal of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta over his alleged meeting with BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.
"The Honourable President of India has granted us time at 2.30 pm on Monday. We will be raising our strong objection to Adhikari's visit to Mehta's residence and demand the latter's removal," TMC MP Sukendu Sekhar Roy said.
Roy, along with party MPs Derek O'Brien and Mahua Moitra, had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday demanding the removal of the Solicitor General since the BJP leader is an accused in Narada and Saradha scams.
"The Solicitor General of India is the second highest law officer of the country after the Attorney General of India and advises Government of India and its various organs in crucial legal matters such as Narada and Saradha cases. Such meeting between an accused in grave offences, with the learned Solicitor General who is advising such investigation agencies by whom the said accused is being investigated, is in direct conflict of interest with the statutory duties of learned Solicitor General of India," the letter read.
Trinamool Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee tweeted "Mr Mehta's efforts to dismiss speculations regarding his clandestine meeting with @SuvenduWB can only be valuable if he makes all CCTV footage public until Mr. Adhikari was in his residence. Moreover, was Mr. Adhikari present in the SG's residence without prior appointment?"
Noting that Adhikari stayed at the Solicitor General's residence for nearly 30 minutes, Abhishek added: "Does that imply that a meeting was indeed due? As the episode gets murkier, one can only hope that the truth shall surface."
"Narada accused enters home of SG (who is also Special PP, CBI in Narada case) in vehicle, is checked & waved inside by security guards & exits after 30 mins. They say nothing happened. Yeah, right," Mahua Moitra, TMC MP, tweeted on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Roy also hit out at the BJP for creating ruckus during Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar's inaugural address at the state Assembly on Friday.
Referring to such actions as a blot on democracy, Roy said: "Listening to Governor's speech is a part of courtesy and there is opportunity to raise objection in the reply speech."
Mocking BJP's training classes for the newly-elected MLAs, Roy said it was ludicrous that a party, which is responsible for creating a disturbance in the state, is organising training. "Is it training for dividing North Bengal," he questioned.
Reiterating the demand for by-elections in the seven Assembly seats in Bengal at the earliest, he claimed that the Covid positivity rate has declined and so bypolls can be conducted.