Published 14:48 IST, February 22nd 2021
Amit Malviya questions CM Mamata: 'Why must Pishi fight like Bangabandhu, why not Netaji?'
BJP IT chief Amit Malviya on Monday took a dig at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after she cannot be intimidated by jail or anything else
BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya on Monday took a dig at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after she said she cannot be intimidated by jail or anything else and that she would fight from jail as Sheikh Mujibur Rehman did. This comes after CBI on Sunday summoned the wife of Chief Minister Mamata's nephew Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the high-profile coal smuggling scam.
Mocking WB CM for invoking Sheikh Mujibur Rehman in her speech, Malviya said, "Yesterday Pishi (aunt) said, like Bangabandhu (Sheikh Mujibur Rehman) she would fight from jail and win. Why doesn’t Pishi want to fight like Netaji or Aurobindo or Rasbehari Bose or Khudiram? Mujibur created Bangladesh, what does she want? Or is there a message for her Muslim vote bank?"
CBI summons Abhishek Banerjee's wife
In a massive development involving the ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday summoned the wife of Chief Minister Mamata's nephew Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the high-profile coal smuggling scam. Arriving at the TMC MP's residence with a notice on Sunday, the Kolkata CBI officers asked Banerjee's wife to join the probe. Notably, the summon has come days after the central agency conducted raids across five locations in poll-bound West Bengal namely — Kolkata, Asansol, Raniganj, Bardhaman, and Purulia in connection with the case.
In the run-up to the elections, the BJP has been alleging that the money from coal sales is whitewashed through shell companies and siphoned into the funds of the ruling party. TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, who is also a Lok Sabha member and the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has been named as the main beneficiary of the scam by the saffron party.
Meanwhile, reacting to the development, Abhishek Banerjee called the summons a ploy to 'intimidate' them. "At 2 pm today, the CBI served a notice in the name of my wife. We have full faith in the law of the land. However, if they think they can use these ploys to intimidate us, they are mistaken. We are not the ones who would ever be cowed down," he said. His wife has since written to the CBI asking them to record her statement at her home on Tuesday, which the agency has agreed to.
Updated 14:48 IST, February 22nd 2021