Mamata Banerjee in crosshairs, Amit Shah fires Saradha salvo

KOLKATA: BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Mamata Banerjee and her party over the Saradha scam in language that left no room for doubt the Centre's tough stance on the probe: whoever is found involved will be caught and sent to jail.

Shah's salvo came a day after Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh — reportedly once the chief minister's blue-eyed boy, and now bete noir — alleged that Mamata had benefited most from the Saradha scam, and told a city sessions judge that he wanted CBI to question the chief minister along with him and Saradha boss Sudipta Sen.

Shah said the chief minister should rein in and act against her corrupt party members, or else the "people" would throw them out. He also could not resist taking a jibe at her through a rhetorical question: if she could fast for 2,000 cultivators in Singur and Nandigram, why was she silent on the 17 lakh Saradha depositors?

It was clear that the Trinamool brass was rattled. The party has pitched Abhishek Banerjee — Mamata's nephew and MP — in the ring to give Shah a fitting reply. Banerjee will address a rally at the same spot on Monday, a working day.