‘Why are you so worried, Mamata ji?’: BJP raps West Bengal CM for ‘snatching files’ during ED raid at I-PAC chief Pratik Jain’s Kolkata house

CM Mamata Banerjee arrives for a rally to protest against the ED raid at IPAC offices. (Express Photo/Partha Paul)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for visiting the residence of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) chief Pratik Jain while an Enforcement Directorate raid was in progress, and leaving with certain documents and articles. Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned her actions as “irresponsible conduct”, which he deemed “unbecoming of a sitting Chief Minister”.

“Creating an obstruction where an investigation against corruption is taking place, and leaving after snatching a file — Mamata ji is guilty of a serious penal offence,” he told reporters in Delhi.

The ED on Thursday conducted the raid at Jain’s residence in Kolkata as part of a money laundering probe into an alleged multi-crore rupee coal pilferage scam. Following CM Banerjee’s visit to the residence amid the ED raids, the central investigation agency has taken the matter to court.

Terming the act illegal, the former union minister said, “We condemn outright the entirely irresponsible conduct of Mamata ji. As a student of law, I would also like to say that this is also a crime. It is a penal offence. What had taken place in her state a day earlier had never occurred in independent India”.

He said the party was aware that the matter was now sub-judice, but questioned why Banerjee was yet to break her silence over the issue.

Prasad said that the central agency was only acting as per procedure in relation to investigating an alleged coal scam and related hawala transactions. The raid at Jain’s residence, he added, was in response to a complaint alleging that crores of transactions had taken place at it.

“Everyone is aware that Bengal has become a hotspot for coal smuggling. There have been discussions around how many leaders from the ruling party are part of it,” he said.

“This raid was not at Mamata ji’s residence, or office, or the TMC office of at any of its leaders’, MLAs’, MPs’, or office-bearers’ homes. It was on a private consultancy firm against which there was a complaint of money laundering worth crores related to the coal scam,” he also said.

Alleging that her conduct was not only unethical, irresponsible, unconstitutional, and shameful, Prasad said it had also destroyed Constitutional limits.

“She has put the entire process to shame…the BJP would like to ask: why are you so worried, Mamata ji?…what is your link with that consultancy firm?” he asked.

“Why are you so anxious if an investigation related to the coal scam is taking place? We do not understand…there are apt of suspicious circumstances surrounding this (incident)…if she had broken all norms, it means there was something very sensitive there and needed to be taken away,” he added.

I-PAC is the political consultant of Trinamool Congress and also manages the party’s IT and media operations.