Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee alleged that the Enforcement Directorate interrogated him to please their political master aiming at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government and also claimed that they don't want TMC to be a part of the INDIA bloc.
In connection with its investigation into the allegation of a school recruitment scam in West Bengal, Banerjee was interrogated by ED officials for over nine hours on Wednesday.
The national general secretary of TMC was questioned by the agency officials from 11.30 am to 8.40 pm.
Abhishek Banerjee addresses media after questioning
After departing from the ED office on Wednesday night, Abhishek Banerjee addressed the media and claimed, " ED summon was meant to stop me from attending INDIA bloc meeting".He alleged that the BJP wants to stop TMC from playing its role in the INDIA bloc.
Further Banerjee charged at the probe agency and said, "The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is wasting its time, but I don't blame it. The agency’s officials are doing this to please their political masters. Even if they question me for 72 hours continuously, I don't care as I have nothing to hide."
The TMC national general secretary challenged the central agency to submit his statement before the court.
"The ED summon was sent so that I can't attend the INDIA bloc meeting. It is testimony of the vital role the TMC is playing in forging opposition unity," he said.
What was the ED questioning all about?
An ED official told PTI, "Banerjee was called to provide evidence in connection with the school recruitment irregularities."
The Diamond Harbour MP skipped the coordination committee meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA in Delhi as he appeared before the agency sleuths.
Elaborating on the questioning, the ED official said three of his colleagues questioned Banerjee on his role and association with ‘Leaps and Bounds,’ the company allegedly involved in the scam.
"Banerjee was asked about his association with the company and whether he was still holding the position of the director," he said.
Asked whether Banerjee cooperated with the ED sleuths, the officer replied in the affirmative.
Banerjee had on Tuesday filed a supplementary affidavit before the Calcutta High Court, claiming that a fresh summons issued to him by the ED, when his revisional application challenging earlier summons by the agency is pending, is "bad in law".
Stating that the TMC MP has been summoned on Wednesday "to give evidence", the affidavit said Banerjee has not only challenged the entire investigation qua (in the capacity of) him, but also the previous summons issued to him by the agency, in a revisional application filed by him before the high court. Banerjee also alleged in the supplementary affidavit that the ED has "initiated and embarked upon a fishing and roving inquiry to rope in the petitioner into the domain of the alleged teacher recruitment scam".
West Bengal CPI(M) reacts to his absence in INDIA coordination meeting
The CPI(M) in West Bengal on Wednesday mocked the decision of the coordination committee of opposition bloc INDIA to keep a chair empty at its meeting since TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who was to represent the party, was summoned by the ED on the same day.
CPI(M) state secretary Mohd Salim said the "paduka" (footwear) of Abhishek Banerjee could have been kept, when told by reporters that Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut said a chair was kept empty at Wednesday's coordination committee meeting in New Delhi to mark the absence of the TMC MP who was summoned by the ED.
"They could have kept the paduka. There is such an instance in Ramayana," he said, referring to Lord Ram's 'padukas' being kept on the throne by his younger brother Bharat when he went on a 14-year exile to the forests.
The coordination committee of the opposition bloc INDIA, of which the CPI(M) is a constituent, held its first meeting at the residence of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar in Delhi on Wednesday.
The CPI(M) has not yet nominated any member to the committee. A decision on who will represent the party will be taken at its Politburo meeting on September 16-17.
