Taking an age jibe at Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said that his predecessor, who had retired from politics and was ingwas resting at home, given her advancing age.
Speaking about why he had quit the Nandigram Assembly seat and instead retained Bhawanipore in Kolkata, he said he wanted to give the former Chief Minister a respite from politics, or she would once again contest from the Kolkata seat and try to enter the State Assembly.
“I told the people at Nandigram who were upset with my leaving that seat that had I left Bhawanipore, the person whom I defeated from there (read Mamata Banerjee) would have once again contested and tried to enter the State Assembly, and my advice to her is that she should not contest elections anymore. You (Banerjee) have already crossed 75. Instead of entering electoral politics, you should better take rest at home,” Adhikari said.
Meanwhile, in yet another jolt to the Mamata Banerjee camp, senior leader and former West Bengal Minister Indranil Sen was arrested on Wednesday by the Kolkata Police on charges of alleged financial irregularities in the sale of passes for Durga Puja preview shows worth several crores of rupees. Sources said that before his arrest, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned the former minister in a money-laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Dwelling on the murder of his personal assistant Chandranath Rath soon after the Bengal Assembly results were declared in May this year, the Chief Minister made a circuitous reference to a top TMC leader and MP, saying the investigators were trying to find out the source of the supari (contract).
“Chandranath was murdered simply because he was my aide. The CBI has arrested seven people, including the shooters and contract killers. Now we have established the source of the `2 crore supari money. Did it come from Camac Street or Diamond Harbour?” he said. TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is incidentally the MP from Diamond Harbour.