West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that she was investigating how much cash had flown into the state prior to the Lok Sabha polls, and the ways in which the money had come in. She did not clarify however, whether the state government was looking into it or her party.
Already there are reports through a Right to Information (RTI) query that maximum amount of political donations in India through electoral bonds in May were sold in Kolkata. Of the total bonds worth Rs 822 crore sold in select outlets of the State Bank of India, Rs 370 crore worth instruments (accounting for 45 per cent) were issued from the Kolkata main branch of the bank. While there is no information on which party has benefited from this, the BJP is considered to be the biggest beneficiary of the bonds issued in March 2018, a fact that reflects in its audit and income tax reports of 2017-18.
Reacting to the disclosures made by the RTI inquiry by Pune-based Vihar Durve, the CPIM’s Mohd Salim had tweeted two days ago: “The BJP’s unprecedented victory in West Bengal is becoming clear day by day.” Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had called for a probe into the use of money in the general elections even before the RTI information had come to light.
Banerjee was talking to the media in Nimta of North 24 Parganas where she had gone to visit the family members of Nirmal Kundu, the Trinamool Congress leader who was gunned down earlier this week. Five persons have been arrested in this connection, including a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker.
The Bengal CM said that the BJP was targeting Trinamool Congress workers and even though the election results had been announced nearly two weeks ago, they were causing terror in the name of organising processions to celebrate their win.
Banerjee said that no political party can organise such processions in the state any longer. “We have won more number of seats than they have, but we are not doing so. Elections are over, now it’s time to get back to work. We have started working, it’s time for you too to get back to work,” she said, directing her words at the BJP leaders. “If anyone objects to this, we will work according to the law,” she said.
