Abhishek Banerjee countered Amit Shah's charges on Saradha scam at a rally in Kolkata today.
A day after new BJP chief Amit Shah took on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a rally in Kolkata, her nephew and party MP Abhishek Banerjee launched a counterattack from almost the same spot in north Kolkata's Bowbazar.
Mr Shah had pointedly questioned Mamata Banerjee about the Saradha Ponzi scam. "Why didn't Didi go on hunger strike like she did for Singur and Nandigram against the duping of 17 lakh investors in the Saradha scam? Because her own people were involved," Shah had taunted.
Today, Abhishek Banerjee put up a spirited defence. Mamata Banerjee went on hunger strike in 2006, when she was not the chief minister, he said. "After becoming CM, she immediately passed the Singur bill. Instead of fasting, she ensured Sudipta Sen (scam kingpin) was arrested and money returned to victims," he said.
But it was a defence nonetheless. The Chief Minister's honesty had so far gone unquestioned. To have it under scanner in a scam that bankrupted the rural poor - Trinamool Congress' biggest votebank - is something the party can ill afford.
So Abhishek Banerjee added, "Mamata Banerjee said there would be full cooperation but investigation must be fair. The CBI is being politically used. If there is fair investigation, Mamata and TMC will stand beside it."
The crowd cheered him on. But with the CBI quizzing several people with links to the Trinamool and Saradha, the party appears to have an uphill battle ahead.
Today, the CBI questioned, among others, Prasanta Pramanik who is close to minister Madan Mitra and partyman Asif Khan, who is close to the party brass.
Senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the Saradha scam will bring down Ms Banerjee's government. "Within three years, kranti ki beti (daughter of revolution) has been converted into the corruption queen," he said.
But Mr Banerjee, like Mr Shah, made no bones about the crux of the debate - the coming bypolls in the state and the assembly polls of 2016. "If someone comes from Delhi and tries to slander Mamata, they will have to go back empty handed. The BJP will not be able to open account in Bengal in 100 years," he said.