"Abhishek Banerjee is not a judge; let the law take its own course."
A day after TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee questioned the credibility of central agencies over his interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged the TMC leader not to assume the role of a judge and instead allow central agencies to carry out their duties, claiming that those involved in corruption are currently managing Bengal's affairs.
The Union minister's remark drew a riposte from the ruling TMC, which likened the BJP to a "washing machine" that transforms corrupt individuals into virtuous figures upon joining their party.
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who was on Wednesday quizzed by the ED for nine hours over the alleged school jobs scam in West Bengal, asserted that the interrogation was an attempt to stop him from attending the coordination committee meeting of the INDIA bloc in Delhi.
He had dared the ED to arrest him and challenged the "central agency to submit his statement before the court."
"Abhishek Banerjee is not a judge; let the law take its own course. He is neither in charge of any forensic lab nor a judge. Why is Banerjee so afraid if he has committed no wrong? In Bengal, it's not just the Narada and Saradha scam; there have been several other corruption cases, such as coal to cattle smuggling. If there is any corruption, central agencies will investigate. The corrupt are running the state government," Mr Pradhan said on the sidelines of a party programme.
His comments drew sharp reactions from the TMC, which said the summons by the central agencies was politically motivated to harass the opposition parties.
"The BJP should not be talking about corruption as their leader Suvendu Adhikari, who has been named in CBI's FIR in the Narada scam, is still roaming free. He should not be talking against Banerjee as he cooperated with the central agencies. We all know he was summoned yesterday to stop him from attending the INDIA opposition meet," senior TMC minister Shashi Panja said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)