TMC’s Abhishek to be summoned by CBI again: BJP

The BJP predicted on Sunday that TMC National Secretary General Abhishek Banerjee will be summoned by the CBI in the coming days in connection with scams ranging from schoolwork to alleged smuggling of coal and cattle in West Bengal.

The leader of the opposition in the assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, told reporters on the sidelines of a state executive meeting that Banerjee may have been angry that he was interrogated for more than nine hours by the CBI on Saturday, but that doesn’t matter.

“He seemed to be upset at being interrogated by the CBI for so many hours. But as the investigation into the SSC scam, coal smuggling cases are gaining momentum with more arrests, if you are summoned for such questioning again in the next few days, you shouldn’t cry. He has to prove his innocence to the investigators. This is a court supervised investigation,” said Nandigram MLA.

Echoing him, BJP State Chairman Sukanta Majumdar told reporters: “After the nine-hour interrogation, Abhishek Banerjee’s body language and reaction indicate that the questions were pointed and that he is scared.

“This is just the beginning and many more calls are waiting from CBI and ED.”

BJP National Vice President Dilip Ghosh said: “We will soon know the result of Abhishek Banerjee’s interrogation and his future fate.”

Reacting to the BJP’s tirade against Banerjee, TMC state spokesman Kunal Ghosh said: “A vindictive government in the Center, after their party’s debacle in the West Bengal assembly election, is using central agencies to harass and intimidate our leaders like Abhishek Banerjee on false charges.”

The CBI called the TMC leader for questioning a day in advance and he complied, but despite nine hours of questioning they were unable to scare him off, Ghosh said.

“The more BJP uses that game plan, the more Bengal people will fight together against these forces. We are not shocked, the BJP is shocked to see the massive support of the people for Abhishek Banerjee and Mamata Banerjee,” the TMC state spokesman said.

Moving on to a different topic, BJP’s Dilip Ghosh said that the dates of the panchayat polls had not yet been announced, even though 80 percent of the people in the state live in rural areas.

“If the panchayat election is not held on time, all development work will stall,” Ghosh said.

At the executive meeting, the leaders decided to embark on ‘Maha Jan Sampark Abhiyan’ from the end of this month in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha election to reach out to the people.

“Our gatherings will witness the real ‘jan jowar’ (sea of ​​crowds), not the ‘jan sanjog yatra’ (mass disclosure program) of ‘Bhaipo’ (nephew),” Adhikari said.

BJP leaders refer to Abhishek Banerjee, the prime minister’s nephew as ‘Bhaipo’.

CBI officers questioned Banerjee, who appeared before them on Saturday as part of the agency’s investigation into the school jobs scam, for more than 9 hours before letting the young politician go.

Banerjee told reporters guarding the outskirts of the CBI office in the Nizam Palace here that the interrogation was a waste of time for both him and officials from the investigative agency, but that he “was cooperative in everything that He was asked”.

After leaving the Nizam’s Palace, he claimed that the real reason he was called was that he had refused to be a “pet dog of the Delhi chiefs” and for this he has been “attacked”.

Banerjee’s name appeared in a complaint filed by Kuntal Ghosh, a local businessman and defendant in the schoolwork scam, where he alleged that he was being pressured by central investigative agencies to name Abhishek Banerjee in the case.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed: ITP)