TMC to rally today for chit fund investors

KOLKATA: After many of its leaders being accused of involvement in the chit fund scam, the ruling Trinamool Congress has planned to hold a demonstration in front of the CBI office on Wednesday , demanding return of money to the lakhs of people who invested with those dubious fund houses and suffered losses.

This is the first time since April 2013 when the scam broke out that the party has lined up such an agitation in front of the office of the central investigating agency , demanding return of money to the investors.

Earlier, Trinamool held several demonstrations near the CBI office, but all those were organised to mount pressure on the probe agency after it arrested a number of its leaders, including MPs and a former minister.

Trinamol leader and former law minister Chandrima Bhattacharjee will lead the agitation. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked her leaders a few days back to hit the streets, demanding return of money to the investors. Trinamool leaders from North 24-Parganas since decided to hold their demonstration in front of the CBI office. “We want the probe agency to recover crores of rupees which were siphoned off by many unscrupulous chit fund owners and return those to lakhs of poor investors who have lost their hard-earned money .We now want the CBI to return the money to the investors,“ said a senior Trinamool Congress leader.

Both CPIM and Congress have mocked at the ruling party for their plan to hold the demonstration.“Two sitting MPs of Trinamool Congress are in jail after the CBI arrested them for their alleged involvement in chit fund scams. Another Rajya Sabha MP of the party has recently got bail after he was arrested by the CBI for his alleged involvement in the scam. Many other leaders of the party are responsible for duping the poor people. I am sure that people of Bengal would realise the real purpose of the ruling party's decision to go for demonstration at the CBI office. Their sole intention is to create pressure on the probe agency to prevent further arrest of their leaders,“ said the opposition leader and Congress MLA, Abdul Mannan.

A senior CPIM leader, however, questioned Trinamoool's plan.“How can a party whose leaders helped and encouraged unscrupulous chit fund owners to siphon off poor people's money , can go for such a movement ?“ asked the CPIM leader.