NEW DELHI: The Trinamool Congress members on Thursday walked out from the Rajya Sabha alleging the Government was indulging in vendetta politics for the party’s opposition to demonetisation.
TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay was arrested by the CBI as part of the vendetta politics, the party MPs claimed in the Upper House. The Government, however, rejected the TMC charge.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, TMC MP Derek O'Brien said since the party has been opposing the decision to scrap old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes, the Centre was sending its investigating agencies after Opposition leaders to "scare" them.
Brien said TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the first to flag the problems due to demonetisation, which came into effect on November 8, 2016.
He said the party, on November 24, had flagged concerns of political vendetta by the Government against Opposition leaders.
"And exactly what we had feared has happened...Lok Sabha leader of TMC was called (by the CBI) and arrested on January 3," O'Brien said.
Expressing apprehension that the same could happen to members of other Opposition parties, he said, "Why this political vendetta is happening...The more you (government) do political vendetta, the more it will firm our resolve to fight you on demonetisation."
Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC) said as the Government is indulging in "witch-hunting", the party would stage walkout. At this,r the TMC members left the House.
In an apparent reference to arrest of Bandyopadhyay and another TMC Lok Sabha MP Tapas Pal, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on the issue of corruption, the government was following a policy of "zero tolerance".
Naqvi said, "Law will take its course against whoever is responsible for corruption...chit fund (scam). Where is the vendetta."
The CBI had recently arrested Bandopadhyay and Pal in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam case.