NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the Center of carrying out political vendetta, alleging that central agencies were being misused ahead of elections, after the Enforcement Directorate carried out searches at several places, including IPAC chief Pratik Jain’s residence.Banerjee reacted sharply to the action and questioned the role of Union Home Minister and ED Amit Shah. He claimed that party documents and data were being seized under the pretext of conducting investigations. He also alleged that names of voters were being removed in West Bengal during the ongoing Special Intensive Review exercise, linking the measures to the electoral process.
“…Is it the duty of the ED, Amit Shah, to collect the party’s hard drive and the list of candidates?… The nasty, naughty Home Secretary who can’t protect the country and is taking away all my party documents. What will be the result if I storm the BJP party office? ” she questioned.“On one hand, they are deleting the names of all voters by conducting SIR in West Bengal…Due to the elections, they are collecting all the information about my party…”, he added.“I challenge the BJP to fight us politically if it wants to win Bengal,” Banerjee said after visiting the I-PAC office in Salt Lake amid ongoing ED raids. “The TMC is a registered political party, it pays income tax; the Center cannot sweep us away with money and muscle power,” he added. The BJP hit back at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of interfering in a central agency probe. Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari termed Banerjee’s visit to I-PAC chief Pratik Jain’s residence during an ED raid as “unconstitutional” and “direct interference” in the investigation.Adhikari said the Enforcement Directorate should take action against the chief minister, alleging that her presence, along with that of the Kolkata police commissioner, was unethical and inappropriate while the search was being carried out at Jain’s Loudon Street residence.He also pointed out that I-PAC manages the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress and drew parallels with an earlier incident, claiming that Banerjee had similarly visited the official residence of then Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar during a CBI raid.This comes after the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids on houses of IT chiefs of various political parties, including TMC’s IPAC chief Prateek Jain. The raids were carried out at 15 locations in connection with a fake government jobs scam allegedly run by an organized gang that deceived people by promising them jobs, officials said.
