Even as the arrest of TMC MPs Tapas Paul and Sudip Bandyopadhyay by the CBI in connection with the Rs17,000 crore duping by Rose Valley chit fund firm has triggered a backlash in West Bengal, the Odisha leaders have found it as grist for the mill ahead of the February panchayat elections.
Though the CBI has spared them at the moment, the Congress, the BJP and the BJD have engaged in a war of words and mudslinging over their leaders’ link with the Rose Valley, which is stated to have cheated Odisha investors of about Rs 450 crore.
The opposition Congress and BJP have got a shot in the arms as the CBI has all of a sudden swung into action in the chit fund issue. The Congress hit out at the probe agency of being a puppet in the hand of the Central Government and going slow against the tainted BJD leaders who have links with various chit fund companies because of a covert understanding between the BJD and the BJP. The State BJP too has alleged that the BJD and TMC have an ‘undeclared bondage’ so far as the Rose Valley is concerned.
PCC president Prasad Harichandan said that the BJD and the BJP are in league for which the CBI, which is acting at the behest of the BJP-led Central Government, has let several big shots in BJD off by slowing down the inquiry process against them. Notably, while Banki BJD MlA Pravat Tripathy and Mayurbhanj BJD MP Ramchandra Hansdah have been arrested over their chit fund link, Dharmasala MlA Pranab Balbantaray,
Choudwar-Cuttack MlA Pravat Biswal and Baleswar MP Rabindra Jena, all from the ruling party, have been grilled. CBI had also quizzed Navin Niwas staffer and CM’s close aide Saroj Sahu, former BJD MP Pyarimohan Mohapatra and Food Minister Sanjay Dasburma’s representatives, among others.
Meanwhile, Congress Cuttack Nagar president Mohammed Moquim charged Cuttack-Barabati BJD MlA Debasis Samantray’s link with Rose Valley. But Samantaray rubbished the charge and dubbed Moquim as a criminal, while daring the Congress to provide concrete evidence against him.
The State BJP has already declared that it would make chit fund a prime issue during the Panchayat election in February. State BJP vice president Sameer Mohanty alleged that the BJD Government has failed to return the money of the duped investors in Odisha despite repeated assurances and lapse of two and a half years since the process began. But more specifically, Mohanty sought a probe into the special patronage provided to Rose Valley chief Goutam Kundu. He alleged that a Cuttack leader had offered to help Kundu who planned to open a media house. Besides, Kundu’s meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was facilitated as the former enjoyed good rapport in the BJD circle.
However, Excise Minister and BJD vice-president Dr Damodar Rout flung the arrow towards the BJP camp saying that the Rose Valley, being a Bengali firm, could have link with former Cuttack MlA Sameer Dey of the BJP.