'Alliance of corrupt' emerging to save each other, says BJP after Opposition's support to Mamata

The BJP said Monday an "alliance of the corrupt" is emerging, after several opposition parties supported West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her protest against the CBI's move to question Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar in the multi-crore Saradha scam case. At a presser in Delhi, BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wondered if Banerjee backed the police commissioner because he held "secrets" and hence needed to be saved.

Refuting Opposition's charge that CBI's attempt to question Kumar was an attack on federalism and Modi government's political vendetta, he said this cannot be an "alibi to save the corrupt". The CBI has acted as per law and it has the authority to arrest or question a person without a warrant, he asserted.

"They (the opposition parties) should answer if probing corruption is a sin. Or if investigating the loot of thousands of crores from small investors is a sin. Theirs is an opportunist alliance and an alliance of the corrupt is emerging to save each other," he said. The law minister said the leaders of the "grand alliance" from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, are facing probe in corruption cases.

The West Bengal chief minister is on a dharna since Sunday night over the CBI's attempt to question the Kolkata Police commissioner in connection with the alleged chit-fund scam. As the BJP has often pointed out that the opposition's so-called grand alliance has no leader acceptable to its all constituents, Prasad too wondered if Banerjee was trying to project herself as its face with her "dharna drama", adding wryly that Congress president Rahul Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati will have to think about this.

Joined by Jitendra Singh, a minister of state in the department of personnel, Prasad also took strong exception to the presence of the Kolkata police commissioner at the dharna site, saying it was "unprecedented" and he has exposed himself to the charge of serious violation of rules guiding the conduct of police officers. Singh also echoed his view. Asked if the Union government would take action against him, Prasad parried the question. Asked whether the President's rule can be imposed in the state, he said a "long rope is given in such things".

He said Banerjee, a chief minister, has defied all norms by sitting on a dharna. She kept "quiet" when many of her Trinamool Congress leaders, including MPs, were arrested in corruption cases but has started a sit-in to support a police officer. It seems the Kolkata police chief knows "a lot of secrets", Prasad said.

"These suspicious circumstances clearly indicate that the police commissioner knows a lot and therefore needed to be saved. What is her (Banerjee's) compulsion?" he said. Kumar, the Kolkata police chief, was in charge of the special investigation team constituted by Banerjee in 2013 to probe the chit-fund cases, and there are allegations that it destroyed or manipulated the evidence, the BJP leader said.

The apex court had asked the CBI to look into the "larger conspiracy" and any irregularity by regulatory bodies, he said and accused the state government of trying to "frustrate" the investigation of those at the "top". Rejecting the opposition's charge that the CBI move was BJP's political vendetta, Prasad said it must be noted that the cases were filed and then the Supreme Court handed over their probe to the CBI before the BJP came to power in 2014.

Taking a dig at the Congress over its support to Banerjee, he quoted a tweet the party had posted in May 2014. The Congress had cited Rahul Gandhi's condemnation of people losing their money in chit funds in West Bengal. He accused Gandhi of "double standards" over his support to her now.

The CBI moved to question Kumar as he did not respond to its three summonses for appearing before him for questioning, he said. Prasad added that the state police did not cooperate with the CBI's attempt to contact different police officers who had probed the case before it was handed over to the agency.

"What is happening in Bengal is very alarming. The chief minister is not permitting fair investigation, CBI people are being arrested and she is sitting with dharna with her ministers and the police commissioner. It is a text book case of a very alarming situation as far as constitutional governance is concerned," he said. The BJP leader also attacked the TMC chief for putting "obstacles" in the way of political programmes of the saffron party. The TMC chief, he claimed, has become "completely demoralised" because of people's support to the BJP.

To the allegation that the CBI is not acting against Mukul Roy, who was allegedly involved in the chit fund scam, because he had quit TMC to join BJP, Prasad said no one will be spared.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)