BJP Chief Amit Shah blamed Mamata Banerjee of diverting the attention from the Narada scam. (PTI photo)
The BJP has accused Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress of engineering a sting operation on its senior state party leader Rahul Sinha with the collusion of the state police. The operation, the party said, failed after the operators - two police officers - were caught out.
Calling this an attempt to remove focus from the Narada sting - conducted by a local television channel in which ministers and top leaders of the ruling party were allegedly caught taking bribes - the BJP has demanded that the Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajib Kumar be removed.
On Tuesday, former state BJP president Rahul Sinha filed a complaint with the Election Commission, saying two police officers claiming to be from the Special Branch had tried to pay him a bribe and capture it on hidden camera.
"There should be a fair probe. There should be a CBI probe and Kolkata Police Commissioner should be suspended," Mr Sinha told NDTV. The police chief, he said, had done this on the "Chief Minister's instructions".
BJP president Amit Shah, who visited Kolkata yesterday, said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should not defame his party just because her party members were caught in a sting operation.
Pointing to the suspension of the two officers, Mr Shah said, "What are you doing by taking action on small police inspectors? The police commissioner is directly involved in this."
The Trinamool alleges Mr Shah conspired to facilitate the Narada sting, a charge the BJP chief has denied.
The Left called the BJP's allegations a "well scripted drama" and repeated their allegation about a secret deal between the Trinamool and BJP.
"This is a Match fixed between BJP and TMC," said CPM leader Sitaram Yechury. "It's a given that Mamata Banerjee is misusing the police. But why hasn't BJP asked for this sting to be sent to the Ethics Committee?"
"They (the BJP) is going to hell in the state of West Bengal. They have no foothold here so they are trying to malign somebody," said Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee.