With the arrest of Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal in the cattle smuggling case, this is Strike 2 for the Trinamool Congress. The strike 1 came with the arrest of the then minister Partha Chatterjee in the teacher recruitment scam case on 22 July. While Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate along with aide Arpita Mukherjee, Mandal was arrested by the CBI after two no-shows for questioning in three days.
Chatterjee’s arrest and seizure of nearly Rs 50 crore in cash, gold and property documents from Arpita Mukherjee’s residence had already pushed the TMC on the backfoot, which had removed the minister from all government and party posts. With another high-profile arrest at such a time Mamata Banerjee Keen to carve a niche for itself in the opposition leadership, TMC is playing a watchful game of wait and watch.
“The law will take its course. TMC will not allow any corruption to be proved, whoever it is,” TMC MP Biswajit Deb told News18.
Echoing Deb, party MP Shantanu Sen said: “The party will take the appropriate decision at the right time. But, we want to make it clear that TMC will not compromise in any matter of corruption. Sen said the party has “zero tolerance” on corruption and wrongdoings.
Meanwhile, party MP Mala Saha expressed concern over central agencies like CBI and ED “going behind” Bengal’s leaders.
TMC sources told News18 that in a press conference to be held on Thursday evening, the party will state its position that the law will take its own course on the issue. Sources said she would also question the Union Home Ministry on the BSF’s “failure” to check cross-border cattle smuggling and why central agencies were not interested in the cash seizure from Jharkhand MLAs of Congress in Howrah district.
Meanwhile, the opposition BJP has alleged that Mandal’s arrest proves that the ruling party is steeped in corruption, and demanded a statement from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
He said, ‘Now the time has come for the Chief Minister to give a statement on Mandal’s arrest. We all know that he was close to the top TMC leadership,” said BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, “The arrest of Chatterjee and now Mandal is an example of Bengal’s much-awaited development model.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said: “The CBI has done the right thing. He (Mandal) was a small person. How did he get assets worth Rs 1,000 crore? She is the creation of Mamata Banerjee.”
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