Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could arrest her as she had opposed the Budget. Her words dripping with sarcasm, Banerjee attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi implying that the Centre was using the investigating agency for political gain.
Reacting to the Interim Budget on Wednesday, the Bengal chief minister said that she had heard that the Prime Minister calls officers to his office chamber and mentions to them names of people he wants arrested. She said that the PM targeted the Opposition in this manner.
Mamata Banerjee today further added that Trinamool Congress leaders were being called by the CBI officers, who were now busy looking for information on sale and exhibition of her paintings.
The CBI authorities on Thursday talked to Manik Majumdar, the CM’s confidential secretary for information relating to the sale of her paintings. Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien has also been summoned in connection with the funding of the party’s mouthpiece, Jaago Bangla. The party’s sources however said they hadn’t received any intimation on this yet.
Meanwhile, the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Thursday had asked in a meeting why the Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar was not present at a meeting which the EC had called. The EC is in Kolkata to hold preparation meetings for the coming Lok Sabha polls and senior officers from all the districts and members of political parties have been attending the meetings.
The Kolkata Police was represented by two senior officers, but the CEC wanted to know why Kumar was himself not present. Asked about this, the chief minister today said that the Kolkata CP had completed three years in office and that he was on leave. “That’s the reason he didn’t attend the meeting,” she said.
