Amid refrains of a steady flight of capital from Bengal in the past more than a decade of Trinamool Congress’ rule, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday left for a 12-day tour of Spain and Dubai in order to seek investments.
“I will spend a night in Dubai and then proceed to Madrid and Barcelona before returning to Dubai once again and then back to India,” Banerjee earlier said, adding she would attend a number of business conferences during her stay abroad so that investments can be brought to Bengal.
Bengal Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari however slammed Banerjee, saying she was going abroad, particularly Dubai, to serve her personal and family’s interest. “Money is being siphoned to Dubai and other places … There are some laws in those countries that help money siphoning … this trip is for securing the money that her family has siphoned away through Hawala,” Adhikari said adding “otherwise what honey is there in Dubai that she and her family has to go there repeatedly.”
Banerjee's visit to Dubai and Spain takes place barely days after her nephew and Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s foreign sojourn — to Dubai and the USA — allegedly for medical issues. There was a lot of controversy over the junior Banerjee’s foreign trip when the Opposition Left accused the Enforcement Directorate for letting him go abroad at a time when he was facing charges of having played a pivotal role in recruitment and other scams apart from siphoning money to foreign lands.
The Chief Minister had on Monday said that she had not visited any foreign country for five years “despite getting many invitations to attend many programmes either because I do not get time or because I was not allowed (by the Centre) to go.”
On Tuesday she told reporters at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport, “I am going out after five years … Going to Spain because they have good manufacturing and other industries … we will participate in some business conferences there … During my return journey I have a business conference in Dubai also.”