All the 12 senior Trinamool Congress leaders accused in Narada sting case have for the time decided to ‘avoid confrontation’ with the CBI which is investigating the case and ‘cooperate with the officers.’ In a closed door ‘accused-only’ meeting, the leaders have been asked to quickly respond to the summons that might be issued by the agency, sources said.
This is a sharp shift from the earlier stances adopted by the party in the Narada and Rose Valley chit fund cases where the accused leaders like Madan Mitra, Sudip Bando-
padhyay and Tapas Paul chose to ignore the summons.
A number of Trinamool Congress leaders including Ministers Subroto Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Subhendu Adhikary, Sovan Chatterjee, Madan Mitra and MPs Sougato Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Aparupa Poddar, Kakoli Ghoshdastidar, Sultan Ahmed and his brother and MlA Iqbal Ahmed were seen in a sting video tape accepting cash from a journalist who posed as a prospective investor. The tape that was released in March 2016 was however shot just before the 2014 general elections.
According to sources three accused leaders suggested filing of a fresh petition against the FIR drawn earlier by the CBI. However, former Railway Minister Mukul Roy who called the meeting and others ruled against rushing to the court and advised the accused to cooperate with the investigating officers instead.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday rubbished Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s ‘conspiracy’ charges in Narada and Sharada cases saying such accusations were a result of nervousness in the Trinamool Congress ranks as they are losing ground in Bengal fast.
Referring to the party’s good show in the South Contai Assembly by-elections, the Union leader, who was in Kolkata, said it was not only indicative of the efforts made by the party workers but also’ indicative of declining popularity of TMC in Bengal.’ Irani however did not comment on the CBI probe into the Narada case saying she could not do so as a Union Minister. “The courts and agencies will ensure that justice is done,” she said.