"What have I done to warrant such treatment? Am I a criminal?"
Senior West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim, who was questioned by the CBI after his residence was raided on Sunday, lambasted the BJP for "employing government agencies to harass him as he didn't bow before the saffron party".
The CBI carried out searches at 12 locations, including the homes of Hakim and TMC MLA Madan Mitra, in various parts of the state as part of its investigation into alleged irregularities in recruitment processes within civic bodies.
The raid and questioning at Hakim's Chetla residence in south Kolkata began at 9 am and continued for nearly nine hours.
Mr Hakim, who serves as the minister for urban development and municipal affairs and also holds the position of mayor of Kolkata, is a prominent figure in the TMC with significant influence within the party's structure.
A visibly frustrated Mr Hakim, while addressing a press conference outside his residence, said, "What have I done to warrant such treatment? Am I a criminal? Can they provide any concrete evidence of wrongdoing on my part? According to the municipal act, does the municipal affairs minister have any role in appointments? The BJP has no justification for subjecting me to this unwarranted scrutiny."
Mr Hakim accused the BJP of resorting to the "use of central agencies to target him and other TMC leaders because they have not succumbed under the BJP's pressure".
He argued, "The BJP cannot compete with us on a political level; therefore, they are resorting to the use of central agencies to intimidate me. They are doing this simply because I have refused to bow down to their demands."
Meanwhile, Kamarhati's TMC legislator Madan Mitra, addressing a protest organised outside the Raj Bhavan, alleged that the BJP, unable to secure electoral victories, is now relying on the coercive tactics of central agencies to intimidate the ruling party in the state.
"They cannot win elections, and are now attempting to bully us using central agencies. However, this will not yield any result, and the BJP will once again face defeat in the Lok Sabha polls," he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)