Political Vendetta Behind Arrests of TMC MPs In Rose Valley Scam?

TMC and Congress have questioned the timing of Bandyopadhyay’s arrest as the scam is not a recent discovery.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay was arrested by the CBI on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)

From Kolkata to New Delhi to Bhubaneshwar, TMC MPs, leaders and workers held protests against Tuesday's arrest of their MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay. Besides, alleged cadres of West Bengal's ruling party attacked BJP offices, hurling bombs and setting them on fire. Bandyopadhyay has been arrested in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam.

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has alleged political vendetta as the reason behind the arrest of the TMC MP who was at the forefront of note ban protests.

Furious over the arrest of Bandyopadhyay, the TMC leader in the Lok Sabha and a close Mamata Banerjee aide, party workers also demonstrated in front of CBI offices in Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar, where the MP was taken for production in a court after his arrest.

A BJP delegation met West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi and petitioned him for imposition of President's rule in the state due to the “deteriorating law and order situation”.

TMC MPs attempted a protest march to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence in the national capital but were detained mid-way.

Congress, which has warmed up to TMC following demonetisation, questioned the timing of the arrest of TMC MP Tapas Pal and Bandyopadhyay.

We are questioning the timing of the arrests. For more than a year the CBI was silent, but all of a sudden it has become active when the opposition is getting united on the issue of demonetisation. This is an attempt to break the unity of the opposition on the issue of demonetisation.

C P Joshi, Congress general secretary

Congress had on Tuesday alleged Bandyopadhyay's arrest by the CBI was "vendetta unleashed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his detractors" and wondered if it was in reaction to the "Opposition unity".

It is surprising that the Congress is backing TMC on the issue of the arrests when it was its own leader Abdul Mannan’s petition which had led to institution of a CBI probe into the chit fund scam.

But Joshi had a reply.

“The matter is sub-judice, so it won’t be right to comment on the matter,” he said. As for Mannan, he stated, ”Demonetisation is an issue of 125 crore people of India. All Opposition parties have united on this issue. But the chit fund is an issue of two crore people. So you need to prioritise.”

A four-time Lok Sabha member and Minister of State in the Manmohan Singh government, Bandyopadhyay was arrested after he allegedly failed to give satisfactory answers to many questions and was found to be uncooperative.

He is alleged to have received favours from the Rose Valley group which funded his foreign trips. His fellow Trinamool MP and actor Pal was a director in two Rose Valley group companies.

Video Editor: Sandeep Suman