Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s statement came a day after she was summoned to Trinamool Congress general secretary and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee in the coal theft scam.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s statement came a day after she was summoned to Trinamool Congress general secretary and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee in the coal theft scam.
Accusing the BJP-led government at the Center of doing politics of “blackmailing”, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that “coal and cattle” are under the Union Home Ministry, adding that if her “family” is served a notice Is. She will fight it legally. Ms Banerjee said that getting justice is becoming more difficult these days but she has faith in the judiciary.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) president’s remarks came a day after it emerged that party general secretary and his nephew Abhishek Banerjee have been summoned in the coal theft scam. Mr Banerjee has been asked to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Kolkata on September 2.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday conducted raids in both the SSC recruitment scam and the animal trafficking scam. The agency has also identified 100 more properties of close aides of arrested TMC leader Anubrata Mondal in and around Birbhum. A Kolkata court on Wednesday sent former minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee, arrested in the recruitment scam, to 14-day judicial custody.
My family says Mamta on their own
Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat, the Chief Minister referred to the allegations of land grabbing by his family members and said that during the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, he directed the Chief Secretary of the state to look into the matter. “If you find that me and my family members have encroached upon the land then use a bulldozer to destroy everything. You don’t need to take my permission,” she told the chief secretary.
The Chief Minister said that the Kalighat area in which she lives is under thika tenancy and none of them are real zamindars. Ms Banerjee said she was hurt by some media outlets highlighting a land grab petition without even considering whether the petition was accepted or not.
In an hour-long press conference, Ms Banerjee spoke about her relationship with her extended family and said that her family members are lonely and she only visits them during festivals.
With the Trinamool Congress battling corruption charges following the arrest of two of its stalwarts, the chief minister has on past few occasions appeared to defend the allegations of increase in the wealth of her family members. As for the TMC, Ms Banerjee touted the “clean” image. Has been a major political capital and with allegations against his extended family the party president himself tried to resolve the issue.
“If I had known that politics is so dirty. I would never participate in it. The chair is supposed to work for the common people. When people don’t want me, I will go.”
All is not bad in RSS
The chief minister also responded to allegations of “setting up with the BJP” and said the opposition accuses her of ‘setting up’ whenever she meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release funds to the state. “I’m not the kind who would be involved in the setting,” she said. Ms Banerjee said that many people in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) do not accept the politics of the BJP. “All is not bad in the RSS,” she said.