Left renews demand for CBI probe against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Saradha chit fund scam

KOLKATA: Ahead of Assembly elections in Bengal, CPM on Tuesday urged CBI to serve notice to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and interrogate her in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.

CPM held a demonstration in front of the CBI office in Central Government Office (CGO) complex on Tuesday and blamed BJP for giving a clean chit to Mamata, slowing the investigation into the scam.

Opposition leader Surjya Kant Mishra, while addressing the gathering, said, “We want CBI to interrogate Mamata Banerjee. We have asked the Prime Minister to look into it. We wanted a discussion on the issue in the Assembly but the ruling party did not allow it. Instead, they attacked our MLAs. If you want the money that you had invested in Saradha, this government has to change.“

Top CPM leaders like Left Front chairman Biman Bose, Goutam Deb and leaders of different Front partners also attended the rally on Tuesday.“It was the Left Front government which shut down about 800 chit funds because they were not running their business as per rules. It is our gov ernment which had alerted SEBI about corrupt chit fund owners. But this government doing nothing,“ Mishra said.

Mishra also accused the B JP of slowing the investigation.“Four ministers from Delhi came recently and gave clean chit to the chief minister. We are certain that BJP and Trinamool Congress are in a secret pact and instead of carrying out the probe, the central probe agency is going slow in completing their investiga tion.“

In another development, sidelined Trinamool Congress MP Mukul Roy was seen coming out of chief minister's car at the Netaji Indoor stadium on Tuesday where the state government felicitated Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali. Roy reached the stadium along with the chief minister. Earlier, Roy had met the chief minister at her Kalighat residence on January 1.Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Mamata on January 1, Roy had said “I am a Trinamool Congress MP and Mamata is chief of our party. Today (January 1) is the foundation day of our party and I came to talk to her.“

It seems Mamata is trying to narrow down differences with her one-time trusted comrade ahead of the elections as Roy alone is capable of effectively handling squab bles within the party.