News Analysis India

Tag: Abhishek Banerjee

  • Congress, CPI(M) working as BJP’s B team in Bengal: TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: Slamming the Congress and the CPI(M), Trinamool Congress’s second-in-command and Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday said both the opposition parties are helping the BJP in the state.

    While addressing a rally for the by-election in Murshidabad’s Sagardighi Assembly constituency on February 27, the TMC MP said both the Congress and the CPI(M) are working as the B team of the BJP.

    Labelling the BJP MLA and leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari as Mirzafar (traitor), the Diamond Harbour MLA said all conspiracies hatched by the opposition parties to defeat the TMC candidate would prove futile.

    Considering the Assembly constituency as an erstwhile stronghold of the Congress, Banerjee said, “They (Congress) have no chance to win. Even if they win, their MLA will join the BJP within 24 hours.’’

    The Assembly seat in Sagardighi fell vacant after MLA and state minister Subrata Saha passed away on December 29 last year. The TMC made deep inroads in Congress’s Murshidabad and Malda strongholds and snatched away all the Assembly seats from the grand old party in the 2021 Assembly elections.

    “You will never find the Congress state president criticising the BJP and its leaders. Despite the Sarada chit fund scam mastermind mentioning CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakrabarty’s name in a letter as one of the beneficiaries, no central agency summoned him to date. But the ED sent me 20 notices already. This is clear evidence of the nexus between the CPI(M) and the Congress,’’ Banerjee hit out.

    KOLKATA: Slamming the Congress and the CPI(M), Trinamool Congress’s second-in-command and Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday said both the opposition parties are helping the BJP in the state.

    While addressing a rally for the by-election in Murshidabad’s Sagardighi Assembly constituency on February 27, the TMC MP said both the Congress and the CPI(M) are working as the B team of the BJP.

    Labelling the BJP MLA and leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari as Mirzafar (traitor), the Diamond Harbour MLA said all conspiracies hatched by the opposition parties to defeat the TMC candidate would prove futile.

    Considering the Assembly constituency as an erstwhile stronghold of the Congress, Banerjee said, “They (Congress) have no chance to win. Even if they win, their MLA will join the BJP within 24 hours.’’

    The Assembly seat in Sagardighi fell vacant after MLA and state minister Subrata Saha passed away on December 29 last year. The TMC made deep inroads in Congress’s Murshidabad and Malda strongholds and snatched away all the Assembly seats from the grand old party in the 2021 Assembly elections.

    “You will never find the Congress state president criticising the BJP and its leaders. Despite the Sarada chit fund scam mastermind mentioning CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakrabarty’s name in a letter as one of the beneficiaries, no central agency summoned him to date. But the ED sent me 20 notices already. This is clear evidence of the nexus between the CPI(M) and the Congress,’’ Banerjee hit out.

  • Need to felicitate loyal workers to ‘soothe resentment,’ says Abhishek  Banerjee

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA: In a bid to ease out disgruntlement among the loyal and old foot-soldiers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has issued a directive for organising get-together events in every block after Dussehra to felicitate the workers at the grassroots level. 

    The instructions issued by Banerjee said that no turncoats will be on the list of those who will be felicitated. The move is said to be an effort to pacify the party’s workers who have expressed their unhappiness on several occasions over the importance given to those who joined the TMC from other parties, especially from the BJP.

    “Banerjee has asked for felicitation of at least 500 party workers in each block. They will be picked from the booth-level structure of the organisation. Only those workers who joined the party before 2011 and played key roles in the historic Assembly elections that derailed the 34-year Left Front regime in 2011 will be selected,’’ said a senior TMC leader.

    According to the directive, the felicitation events will have to be completed between October 11 and October 22 in all the 294 Assembly constituencies. ‘’Panchayat samitis or zila parishads will organise the events in the constituencies, which the TMC failed to bag in the 2021 Assembly polls. The entire felicitation event will have to be recorded on video and sent to Banerjee’s office in Kolkata,’’ the leader added.

    In the instructions, Banerjee, the second-in-command in the TMC and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, made it clear that collecting contributions from common people for the programmes will not be allowed.

    “He, however, did not mention where the money for organising the events will come from,’’ another leader of the ruling party said. Rift between the old workers and newcomers in the TMC has emerged prominently on several occasions. “Banerjee’s decision of acknowledging loyal workers aims to ease out the disgruntlement among them,’’ the leader added. 

    KOLKATA: In a bid to ease out disgruntlement among the loyal and old foot-soldiers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has issued a directive for organising get-together events in every block after Dussehra to felicitate the workers at the grassroots level. 

    The instructions issued by Banerjee said that no turncoats will be on the list of those who will be felicitated. The move is said to be an effort to pacify the party’s workers who have expressed their unhappiness on several occasions over the importance given to those who joined the TMC from other parties, especially from the BJP.

    “Banerjee has asked for felicitation of at least 500 party workers in each block. They will be picked from the booth-level structure of the organisation. Only those workers who joined the party before 2011 and played key roles in the historic Assembly elections that derailed the 34-year Left Front regime in 2011 will be selected,’’ said a senior TMC leader.

    According to the directive, the felicitation events will have to be completed between October 11 and October 22 in all the 294 Assembly constituencies. ‘’Panchayat samitis or zila parishads will organise the events in the constituencies, which the TMC failed to bag in the 2021 Assembly polls. The entire felicitation event will have to be recorded on video and sent to Banerjee’s office in Kolkata,’’ the leader added.

    In the instructions, Banerjee, the second-in-command in the TMC and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, made it clear that collecting contributions from common people for the programmes will not be allowed.

    “He, however, did not mention where the money for organising the events will come from,’’ another leader of the ruling party said. Rift between the old workers and newcomers in the TMC has emerged prominently on several occasions. “Banerjee’s decision of acknowledging loyal workers aims to ease out the disgruntlement among them,’’ the leader added.
     

  • TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s kin appears before ED in coal scam case

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Maneka Gambhir, the sister-in-law of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday for questioning in connection with an alleged coal scam case. The ED issued fresh summons to Gambhir after it ‘erroneously’ issued her a notice for an appearance at 12:30 am instead of 12:30 pm on Monday, official sources said.

    Gambhir, who was then asked to appear by 2 pm, reached the agency’s office at the CGO complex in Salt Lake around 12.40 pm.

    Earlier, the ED was left red-faced when Gambhir arrived at its office here past midnight, as the notice asked her to appear before the agency at 12.30 am on Monday.

    Gambir reached the ED office and posed for a picture before a locked office along with the notice, which the agency later termed a “typographical error”, the sources said.

    She was accompanied by a lawyer. Gambhir was handed over the summons to appear at the ED office on Monday by agency officials at the Kolkata airport on September 10, after she was denied from taking an international flight.

    The Calcutta High Court had in August directed the ED to question Gambhir at its regional office in Kolkata and not in Delhi, and also not to take coercive steps against her till the next date of hearing.

    Gambhir had challenged an ED summons that asked her to appear before it in Delhi on September 5 in connection with the alleged coal scam case and had sought direction from the court to the agency to allow her to appear before it in Kolkata, where she claimed she resides.

    The central agency had earlier questioned Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and his wife Rujira, in connection with the case.

    KOLKATA: Maneka Gambhir, the sister-in-law of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday for questioning in connection with an alleged coal scam case. The ED issued fresh summons to Gambhir after it ‘erroneously’ issued her a notice for an appearance at 12:30 am instead of 12:30 pm on Monday, official sources said.

    Gambhir, who was then asked to appear by 2 pm, reached the agency’s office at the CGO complex in Salt Lake around 12.40 pm.

    Earlier, the ED was left red-faced when Gambhir arrived at its office here past midnight, as the notice asked her to appear before the agency at 12.30 am on Monday.

    Gambir reached the ED office and posed for a picture before a locked office along with the notice, which the agency later termed a “typographical error”, the sources said.

    She was accompanied by a lawyer. Gambhir was handed over the summons to appear at the ED office on Monday by agency officials at the Kolkata airport on September 10, after she was denied from taking an international flight.

    The Calcutta High Court had in August directed the ED to question Gambhir at its regional office in Kolkata and not in Delhi, and also not to take coercive steps against her till the next date of hearing.

    Gambhir had challenged an ED summons that asked her to appear before it in Delhi on September 5 in connection with the alleged coal scam case and had sought direction from the court to the agency to allow her to appear before it in Kolkata, where she claimed she resides.

    The central agency had earlier questioned Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and his wife Rujira, in connection with the case.

  • ED issues fresh summons to Abhishek Banerjee’s kin after notice row; Trinamool MP threatens of gheraoing BJP leader’s houses

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate was left red-faced when Maneka Gambhir, the sister-in-law of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, arrived at its office here past midnight as the notice served on her in a money laundering case asked her to appear before the agency at 12.30 AM on Monday.

    Wearing a blue kurta, Gambir reached the ED office at CGO complex in the Salt Lake area and posed for a picture before a locked office along with the notice, which the agency later termed as a “typographical error”.

    “I was served with notice to report at 12:30 AM and so I had come,” Gambhir later told a local news channel.

    She was accompanied by a lawyer during her midnight visit to the ED office.

    Gambhir was handed over the summons to appear at the ED office here on Monday “at 12:30 AM” by agency officials at the Kolkata airport on September 10 after she was denied from taking an international flight.

    The agency said she was required to join investigation in an alleged coal scam case.

    She has been issued a fresh summons to appear before the agency here around 2 PM, the officials said.

    The sources said the midnight time printed on the earlier summons was a “typographical error” and erroneous and it should have been “12:30 PM” on September 12.

    Gambhir has not been questioned by the ED in this case till now.

    The CBI had earlier questioned her in the said case.

    The Calcutta High Court in August directed the ED to question Gambhir at its regional office in Kolkata and not in Delhi and also not to take coercive steps against her till the next date of hearing.

    Gambhir had challenged an ED summons that asked her to appear before it in Delhi on September 5 in connection with the alleged coal scam case and had sought direction from the court to the agency to allow her to appear before it in Kolkata, where she claimed she resides.

    The ED has questioned Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and his wife Rujira in this case earlier.

    This case is being investigated by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) with Anup Majee being alleged to be the kingpin of a coal mining pilferage-linked money laundering case related to Eastern Coalfield Limited’s mines in Kunustoria and Kajora in and around Asansol in West Bengal.

    Houses of all BJP MPs and MLAs in West Bengal will be gheraoed if provident fund and gratuity benefits are not provided to over 3 lakh tea garden workers in the state by the end of this year, Banerjee said on Sunday.

    Addressing a rally of tea workers in Jalpaiguri district’s Malbazar, Banerjee asked the party’s trade union to start a protest programme demanding PF and gratuity from Monday itself and lodge police complaints against tea garden owners who refuse to provide these benefits.

    “BJP leaders are like migratory birds, they come before the elections, make big promises and fly out after the elections without fulfilling those.

    The Centre promised to take over seven closed tea gardens but did nothing, while the TMC government in the state ensured that all closed tea gardens become operational once again,” he said.

    “Though Narendra Modi was a tea seller, he did nothing for the tea garden workers. Providing PF and gratuity benefits are the responsibilities of the Centre. I ask you all to start protesting on the issue from tomorrow itself. File police complaints against tea garden owners who refuse to provide these. And if the issues are not addressed by the end of this year, then houses of BJP MLAs and MPs will be gheraoed from January,” he added.

    Banerjee, a Lok Sabha MP and the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, promised the tea workers that the state will set up 31 creches for their children in the next six months, primary health centres, and provide them with clean drinking water and land rights.

    “The basic wage was Rs 67 during the Left rule in the state and it has now been increased to Rs 232. The new wage will be implemented in the next three months,” he said, noting that he will take the demands of the tea garden workers to Delhi.

    The announcements by Banerjee, the TMC’s national general secretary, are being seen as a bid to wrest the tea belt of the state from the BJP, which won all the seats in the region in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and continued the streak by winning the most number of seats in last year’s assembly election.

    Asserting that his party will fight against all moves to divide the state, Banerjee said he was also against terms such as ‘north Bengal’ and ‘south Bengal’.

    “There are talks about carving out Coochbehar with parts of sub-Himalayan West Bengal to create a separate state or territory. We will not allow that,” he said.

    “TMC will fiercely oppose any attempt to create a separate state. Even I am opposed to casually referring to the region as north Bengal, and districts in the southern region as south Bengal. Why such terms?” he asked.

    Banerjee also hit out at the BJP, alleging “misuse” of ED and CBI to harass its political opponents.

    “(Law minister) Moloy Ghatak’s house was raided but only Rs 14,000 in cash could be found. Why people who looted crores of rupees of public money and provided shelter by the BJP are being spared?” he asked.

    On speculation of his “new Trinamool Congress”, Banerjee said he never meant that the party will get rid of old-timers.

    “I meant we will continue to reflect the aspirations of people and voice their wishes. We will fix mistakes if any during the journey,” he explained.

    “If anyone commits any wrong, if anyone cheats people, the party will not stand by him. Remember that TMC took action against such offenders,” he claimed.

    The BJP said it was not giving much importance to Banerjee’s rally, claiming that the people of the state have already turned their faces away from the TMC.

    “His rally will not cut much ice as people of Bengal have turned away from the TMC. Also, let me ask why he did not care about the condition of tea gardens all these years. The Modi government and our party MPs are doing everything to improve their condition,” BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.

    KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate was left red-faced when Maneka Gambhir, the sister-in-law of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, arrived at its office here past midnight as the notice served on her in a money laundering case asked her to appear before the agency at 12.30 AM on Monday.

    Wearing a blue kurta, Gambir reached the ED office at CGO complex in the Salt Lake area and posed for a picture before a locked office along with the notice, which the agency later termed as a “typographical error”.

    “I was served with notice to report at 12:30 AM and so I had come,” Gambhir later told a local news channel.

    She was accompanied by a lawyer during her midnight visit to the ED office.

    Gambhir was handed over the summons to appear at the ED office here on Monday “at 12:30 AM” by agency officials at the Kolkata airport on September 10 after she was denied from taking an international flight.

    The agency said she was required to join investigation in an alleged coal scam case.

    She has been issued a fresh summons to appear before the agency here around 2 PM, the officials said.

    The sources said the midnight time printed on the earlier summons was a “typographical error” and erroneous and it should have been “12:30 PM” on September 12.

    Gambhir has not been questioned by the ED in this case till now.

    The CBI had earlier questioned her in the said case.

    The Calcutta High Court in August directed the ED to question Gambhir at its regional office in Kolkata and not in Delhi and also not to take coercive steps against her till the next date of hearing.

    Gambhir had challenged an ED summons that asked her to appear before it in Delhi on September 5 in connection with the alleged coal scam case and had sought direction from the court to the agency to allow her to appear before it in Kolkata, where she claimed she resides.

    The ED has questioned Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and his wife Rujira in this case earlier.

    This case is being investigated by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) with Anup Majee being alleged to be the kingpin of a coal mining pilferage-linked money laundering case related to Eastern Coalfield Limited’s mines in Kunustoria and Kajora in and around Asansol in West Bengal.

    Houses of all BJP MPs and MLAs in West Bengal will be gheraoed if provident fund and gratuity benefits are not provided to over 3 lakh tea garden workers in the state by the end of this year, Banerjee said on Sunday.

    Addressing a rally of tea workers in Jalpaiguri district’s Malbazar, Banerjee asked the party’s trade union to start a protest programme demanding PF and gratuity from Monday itself and lodge police complaints against tea garden owners who refuse to provide these benefits.

    “BJP leaders are like migratory birds, they come before the elections, make big promises and fly out after the elections without fulfilling those.

    The Centre promised to take over seven closed tea gardens but did nothing, while the TMC government in the state ensured that all closed tea gardens become operational once again,” he said.

    “Though Narendra Modi was a tea seller, he did nothing for the tea garden workers. Providing PF and gratuity benefits are the responsibilities of the Centre. I ask you all to start protesting on the issue from tomorrow itself. File police complaints against tea garden owners who refuse to provide these. And if the issues are not addressed by the end of this year, then houses of BJP MLAs and MPs will be gheraoed from January,” he added.

    Banerjee, a Lok Sabha MP and the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, promised the tea workers that the state will set up 31 creches for their children in the next six months, primary health centres, and provide them with clean drinking water and land rights.

    “The basic wage was Rs 67 during the Left rule in the state and it has now been increased to Rs 232. The new wage will be implemented in the next three months,” he said, noting that he will take the demands of the tea garden workers to Delhi.

    The announcements by Banerjee, the TMC’s national general secretary, are being seen as a bid to wrest the tea belt of the state from the BJP, which won all the seats in the region in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and continued the streak by winning the most number of seats in last year’s assembly election.

    Asserting that his party will fight against all moves to divide the state, Banerjee said he was also against terms such as ‘north Bengal’ and ‘south Bengal’.

    “There are talks about carving out Coochbehar with parts of sub-Himalayan West Bengal to create a separate state or territory. We will not allow that,” he said.

    “TMC will fiercely oppose any attempt to create a separate state. Even I am opposed to casually referring to the region as north Bengal, and districts in the southern region as south Bengal. Why such terms?” he asked.

    Banerjee also hit out at the BJP, alleging “misuse” of ED and CBI to harass its political opponents.

    “(Law minister) Moloy Ghatak’s house was raided but only Rs 14,000 in cash could be found. Why people who looted crores of rupees of public money and provided shelter by the BJP are being spared?” he asked.

    On speculation of his “new Trinamool Congress”, Banerjee said he never meant that the party will get rid of old-timers.

    “I meant we will continue to reflect the aspirations of people and voice their wishes. We will fix mistakes if any during the journey,” he explained.

    “If anyone commits any wrong, if anyone cheats people, the party will not stand by him. Remember that TMC took action against such offenders,” he claimed.

    The BJP said it was not giving much importance to Banerjee’s rally, claiming that the people of the state have already turned their faces away from the TMC.

    “His rally will not cut much ice as people of Bengal have turned away from the TMC. Also, let me ask why he did not care about the condition of tea gardens all these years. The Modi government and our party MPs are doing everything to improve their condition,” BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.

  • ‘If my family gets notice from central agencies, will fight it legally’: Mamata

    Her comment came after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued a fresh summons to her nephew and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee to appear before its officers on Friday.

  • ED quizzes Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira in coal pilferage scam

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday interrogated Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee’s wife Rujira Narula Banerjee at its Kolkata office for over six hours in connection with its probe into the coal pilferage scam, an officer said.

    The officer said that Rujira went to the ED office at the CGO complex at around 11 am carrying her two-and-a-half-year-old son in her arms. Four officers, including two women, questioned her.

    “We have questioned her about a few transactions made in a bank account in Bangkok. Her answers are being tallied with those given by people who were interrogated earlier in the same case. Rujira may be called again in a few days for another round of questioning,” he said when contacted.

    During the entire grilling session, Banerjee’s son remained on her lap, the officer said. “The child was crying every time her mother was putting him down from her lap,” he added. The Supreme Court has allowed ED to quiz Banerjee and his wife in the coal smuggling case in Kolkata by giving them an advance 24 hour notice.

    The ED had expressed apprehensions at the apex court citing past instances of violence against CBI officers, who were gheraoed in the city after three heavyweight TMC leaders were summoned by them in connection with another scam at its office.

    It had mailed to the state police seeking protection. Following it a huge police arrangement was made at the ED office here, a senior official of the force said. The investigation is linked to an FIR filed by CBI in 2020 in a multi-crore rupees pilferage scam.

    The CBI has so far questioned Rujira twice in connection with the scam. The central agency had last year also interrogated Rujira’s sister Menoka Gambhir, her husband and father-in-law in connection with the probe.

    It is alleged that illegal mining of coal was carried out at leasehold mines of Eastern Coalfields’ in Kunustoria and Kajora areas near Asansol in West Bengal. Investigations have hinted towards financial transactions of Rs 1,300 crore, the bulk of which went to several influential people as per CBI.

    The probe revealed that the money was deposited in foreign bank accounts of these influential people through hawala.

  • Vlogger Roddur Roy arrested in Goa for hurling abuses at Mamata, Abhishek over KK’s death

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A team of the Kolkata Police on Tuesday afternoon arrested vlogger Roddur Roy from Goa on charges of abusing Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, during a Facebook Live session, a senior officer of the force said.

    “He was arrested this afternoon by our officers in Goa. He will be brought to Kolkata on transit remand. Our officers will produce him at a local court there for the remand,” the police officer said.

    An FIR was lodged under various sections of the IPC against the vlogger after a complaint was filed by TMC spokesperson Riju Dutta at Chitpur police station on Saturday.

    Roy, who widely uses expletives in his social media posts, often courting controversies, hurled a barrage of abuses at the chief minister and the Diamond Harbour MP, besides other TMC leaders such as Firhad Hakim and Madan Mitra, blaming the ruling party for the alleged mismanagement at singer KK’s last concert at Nazrul Mancha here.

    The singer had collapsed, shortly after his performance at the auditorium, and was declared ‘brought dead’ by doctors when taken to a hospital.

    Roy’s Facebook Live video has been removed from the social networking site by authorities.

    Meanwhile, BJP leader Anupam Hazra, reacting to the development, sought to know why the police had taken no action against the vlogger when he used foul language for luminaries like Rabindranath Tagore.

    “Now that the chief minister and Abhishek Banerjee were abused, the police swung into action. Why should it be so?” he maintained.

    Incidentally, in April 2012, the Kolkata Police had arrested Jadavpur University Chemistry Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra for allegedly forwarding an email containing a cartoon of the chief minister.

  • Shameful act to attack a judge: Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar takes on TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee again

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Hitting out at TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday said it was a “shameful act” to attack a judge who has exposed a recruitment scam.

    Speaking to reporters at the Bagdogra airport in Siliguri, Dhankhar said nobody is above the law.

    “Those who are chest-thumping and saying that they will continue to say this a thousand times will face the power of truth. I have gone through the statement very minutely. This is a shameful attack on an individual judge who has exposed the country’s most severe recruitment scam,” Dhankhar said, without naming Banerjee.

    He was referring to the TMC leader’s statement at a rally in Haldia last week where he had criticised “one per cent of the judiciary” for ordering CBI probe in “every case” in the state.

    “I feel ashamed to say that there are one or two people in the judiciary who are in hand-in-gloves and have a tacit understanding and are ordering CBI investigation in every case. This is just 1 per cent of the judiciary,” Banerjee had said.

    Soon after he made the comment, Dhankhar had said that “the honourable Member of Parliament has crossed the red line”.

    To this, Banerjee had said he has always believed in speaking truth to power.

    “Yesterday, I said how 1% in Kolkata HC is working in cohorts with Centre in protecting some individuals. PEOPLE ARE WATCHING, they know who is actually ‘CROSSING THE RED LINE’. I rest my case here!” he had tweeted.

    The Calcutta High Court has ordered CBI investigations in a number of cases in the last one year, including post-poll violence and recruitment of teachers by the School Service Commission (SSC).

    Before leaving for New Delhi after a trip to Darjeeling, Dhankhar said, “Who were given the jobs? Those who never sat for the examinations as well as those whose names were not there on the list. In this backdrop, giving such a statement at a public rally is not correct.”

  • ED asks TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee to appear before it again on March 29

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a fresh summons to TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, asking him to appear before it for questioning on March 29 in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged coal scam in West Bengal, officials said on Thursday.

    The agency will continue to record the statement of Banerjee (34) in the case lodged under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they added.

    The Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was questioned by ED officials for about eight hours here on Monday (March 21).

    That was the second time he was questioned in the case. He was first grilled by ED officials in September last year.

    Banerjee’s role and links with the other accused in the case are being investigated, ED officials had said.

    While leaving the ED office on Monday, the TMC leader told reporters that he was a “law-abiding citizen” and hence, had “cooperated” in the investigation.

    He alleged that probe agencies such as the ED, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax department are being used by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to “scare the opposition and its political personalities”.

    The last ED summons against Banerjee and his wife Rujira was issued after the Delhi High Court, on March 11, dismissed a plea moved by the couple, challenging the notices asking them to appear before the agency in Delhi instead of Kolkata.

    Banerjee also filed a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court on Monday, challenging the ED summonses asking him to appear before the agency in Delhi.

    The ED lodged the case on the basis of a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore-rupee coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in West Bengal’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol.

    Local coal operator Anup Majhi alias Lala is the prime suspect in the case. The ED had claimed that Banerjee was a beneficiary of the funds obtained from this illegal trade. The agency has so far made two arrests in the case.

    One of the arrested accused is Vikas Mishra, the brother of TMC’s youth wing leader Vinay Mishra who is stated to have left the country and renounced his Indian citizenship.

    The second arrested accused is former inspector in-charge of the Bankura police station Ashok Kumar Mishra.

  • BJP using central agencies to pursue vendetta politics, says TMC after ED grills Abhishek for 8 hours

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The ruling TMC on Monday accused the BJP of employing central agencies to pursue vendetta politics after its MP Abhishek Banerjee gets questioned for eight hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged coal scam in Bengal.

    The BJP leadership was quick to hit back, stating that the ED and CBI are independent agencies. The party wondered why the TMC grunbled every time its leaders were summoned.

    TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in New Delhi for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged coal scam.

    The 34-year-old Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary was seen entering the new office of the central probe agency in Delhi around 11 am.

    He left the ED office around 7:30 pm. “ED and CBI are the biggest allies of the BJP. As they cannot fight us politically, ED and CBI are used to counter us. The BJP lost Bengal elections in 2021; they will register a poor performance again in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. This is nothing but vendetta politics,” Banerjee told reporters after the questioning.

    Echoing him, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh wondered why saffron party leaders, who have been named in Saradha and Rose Valley scam, are not summoned by the central agencies.

    “These central agencies are functioning arbitrarily. Whenever there is an election, they harass leaders of opposition parties. As there is a Lok Sabha and assembly by-poll slated, they have summoned Abhishek for questioning. But such pressure tactics would not help them win elections.”

    “The BJP has turned into a washing machine as those involved in scams go scot-free once they join the party,” Ghosh iterated.

    The Diamond Harbour MP has been earlier questioned in this case by the agency in September last year for about nine hours.

    The latest ED summons against the two came after the Delhi High Court on March 11 dismissed a plea by the couple challenging the agency notices that asked them to appear in the national capital instead of Kolkata.

    The agency lodged the case under the provisions of the PMLA based on a November 2020 FIR registered by the CBI that alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to Eastern Coalfields Limited mines in the state’s Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol.

    The ED had claimed that the parliamentarian was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade. It has arrested two people in this case till now.

    Reacting to the allegations levelled by the TMC, BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the Mamata Banerjee-led party had the habit of complaining every time they are summoned by the ED and CBI.

    “The CBI and ED are independent and neutral agencies; the BJP has no connection with them. If they (TMC leaders) have any complaint, they can seek legal help,” he said.