KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday described the harassment of the Shyam Group of industries by her party workers as “a small incident and a canard against the TMC”.
Shyam Group, which owns a steel plant at Jamuria in Bardhaman district, has complained to the police against two local TMC leaders of trying to extort a ransom from them and threatening its senior officials.
However, till date the police have neither registered any criminal case against the accused nor called them for questioning. But the TMC has suspended four of its local leaders, including the two named in the complaint lodged by the Shyam Group.
A visibly upset Mamata Banerjee said, “It is a small matter which is being blown out of proportion. None of our party workers resort to extortion as we don’t need such money. It’s a canard against us by those who actually believe in extortion.”
“I have enquired about the matter. There can certainly be an argument. Even in media there are arguments during television shows. If someone tries to grab government land our people will certainly protest,” she said.