In what could cause some embarrassment to Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the election year, four Trinamool Congress MPs on Friday made a public show of their displeasure of the way the party leadership was conducting itself.
More so, because at least three of these parliamentarians are known for their proximity to the Chief Minister. Coming down heavily on the leadership for “playing with my honour” in the multi-thousand crore Saradha scam case, journalist-turned-Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh told a public gathering as to how the big fishes got scot free in the ponzi deal “while I was thrown before the cops to be grilled for two hours.”
Warning that “none can hide behind the veneer of honesty and integrity for long”, Ghosh who apparently targeted the Chief Minister and her coterie said, “I could even be murdered some day as I know a lot about many big shots in the party.” Though the police quizzed only Ghosh from his party, the names of a galaxy of senior leaders including Ministers and MPs had cropped up in the list submitted by Saradha chief Sudipto Sen to the CBI before he fled Kolkata after his companies defaulted in making payments to the depositors.
He said there were a host of leaders who could have been benefitted by the Saradha deal, adding, “I would quit as an MP if found guilty in the scam.” Curiously, going against the Government and the party line he demanded a CBI probe into the scam. “I want a CBI probe into the scam as I want the truth to come out. He said, “I want Mamata Banerjee to rule for years but the people who are today with her are dangerous. I must advise her caution against these weather birds because one day she will understand what these people are like.”
Ghosh was speaking in a programme attended among others by veteran party MP Somen Mitra (former PCC president) and his MlA wife Sikha Mitra, a proclaimed Mamata-baiter, who was currently under suspension from the party for “anti-party activities.” While her husband looked on, Ms Mitra blasted Banerjee for not treating the senior leaders with honour. “My husband Somen Mitra has been out and out a Congress man but it was the Trinamool leadership (read the Chief Minister) that approached him with the offer of joining that party. He obliged but today he is not getting the honour and respect that he deserves.”
The other MP from Birbhum, the actress-politician, Satabdi Roy also poured venom on the leadership vouching how Sikha Mitra was “telling the truth.” She added, “the party is promoting the goons as is the case in Birbhum where the control has gone to those with criminal antecedents.” Another leader and actor-turned-MP Tapas Paul was also present in the meeting. Curiously the leaders spoke out when Justice Shyamal Sen Commission inquiring into the ponzi fund scams on Friday declared that it had prepared the names of 800 depositors who could be paid their money back.
“About a lakh names are in the process of being prepared,” and 800 names had already been prepared to be sent to the Government for payment of their dues, Justice Sen, who on Friday questioned Sudipto Sen, said. The initial cash disbursement would go to the people who had deposited within Rs 1,000. Next, the people who deposited within Rs 10,000 would get their dues back.
About 29 lakh depositors have registered their complaints with the Commission after the Chief Minister earlier declared that the Government would create a fund by raising tax on cigarettes to pay off the cheated depositors. Quoting the Saradha chief, Justice Sen said he had urged the Commission to sell out his belongings to pay off the depositors. He had about 150 companies, he had confessed adding his huge investment in the media did him in.