KOLKATA: In view of the TMC-BJP clashes over arrest of TMC Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandopadhyay for alleged involvement in Rose Valley scam, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Thursday created a political storm by indirectly asking the ruling party to maintain law and order in the state.
“Political ideology should be kept aside and peace and law and order should be maintained,” the West Bengal Governor said. However, his statement did not go down well with the ruling TMC who alleged that BJP was using the post of the Governor. “BJP is trying to use his office which does not glorify his post on the other hand diminishes it.
He should have spoken about the intervention into the federal structure by deployment of CRPF at the BJP headquarters,” Trinamool general secretary Partha Chatterjee said. On the other hand, BJP accused TMC of bringing Raj Bhavan and a constitutional post under political ambit. “The state’s Governor is a former advocate, he knows law more than Partha Chatterjee. If they (TMC) are accusing us of using the Governor, they should lodge a formal complaint with the President,” senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha said. Left Legislative Assembly leader Sujan Chakraborty, who has been accused by TMC of involvement in the Rose Valley scam, attacked TMC saying: “Every person who has basic knowledge to differentiate between good and bad would give this statement.” On the other hand it has been revealed that Rose Valley owner Gautam Kundu had paid Rs 71 lakh as donation to a prestigious Kolkata school for his son’s admission, which was referred to by Sudip Bandopadhyay, according to sources.
The representatives of the school were summoned to CGO Complex by the CBI on Thursday and questioned as to why such a huge amount, which was investor’s money, was sought from the con businessman. Meanwhile, West Bengal continued to witness protests and blockades by TMC cadres on Thursday but on a lesser scale.
While train services to the northeast were affected due to blockade on rail tracks of north Bengal, down south the TMC cadres staged protest on NH 2 in Jamuria near the Jharkhand border, at the Ravindra Bharati University and blockaded the Seldah-Baruipur metropolitan route railway tracks. On the other hand, TMC-run Asansol Municipal Corporation has brought down the posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from over 40 petrol pumps in the state’s second largest city, citing non-payment of long-due levy.