‘BJP taking revenge for Dhupguri bypoll debacle’

Kolkata: A day before Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is set to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the recruit corruption case, his party accused the BJP-led Central government of taking revenge for the saffron brigade’s Dhuguri bypoll debacle.

Addressing a press conference, TMC leaders Shashi Panja and Partha Bhowmick criticised the BJP of “vendetta politics”, an accusation that was also made by Mamata Banerjee on Monday.

Panja said that the timing of ED summon needs to be questioned as it came right after the Dhupguri bypoll victory of TMC.

She said that earlier too Abhishek was summoned when he was engaged in the Nabajowar campaign which saw a huge turnout of people and also yielded positive results in the Panchayat elections.

She alleged that the very fact that Abhishek was summoned on a day he was supposed to remain present in Delhi for the INDIA bloc’s coordination committee meeting shows that BJP is scared of this Opposition party coalition. Panja said it is not just Abhishek alone but his entire family is being harassed by central probe agencies. “Abhishek has always cooperated whenever summoned,” she pointed out. Party sources said that Banerjee is likely to appear before ED tomorrow.

Partha said: “BJP is using CBI and ED for political purposes. The Central agencies are now being used to malign the Mamata Banerjee government and the TMC. Records show that about 118 cases were filed against Opposition party members in this country. Such kind of politics has never before happened in this country.”

He said that the BJP is using Central agencies to malign Abhishek and his family by putting him through a media trial. “This is evident from the low conviction rates in Central probe cases,” he remarked.

Further, he questioned how it is that BJP leaders accused of corruption are not being investigated. “Why is there no action against Suvendu Adhikari who is accused in the Narada case? No action was also taken against BJP leaders Himanta Biswa Sarma or Ajit Pawar,” he remarked.

“I would like to appeal to the ED and CBI officers not to compromise their integrity and self-respect since next year after parliamentary elections the BJP government won’t be there. Harassing Abhishek and his family is a Hitler-like- behaviour,” Partha remarked.

Meanwhile, Abhishek Banerjee moved Calcutta High Court on Tuesday seeking protection against any coercive action against him by the ED. However, the court said that no new protection is needed as ED has already given verbal assurance of not taking any coercive action.