KOLKATA: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's sudden return from her three-week illness hiatus, coupled with her strong criticism of the BJP's use of central forces, seemed to coincide with the apprehension of one of her close aides, Jyotipriya Mallick, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged ration scam.
Mamata, who preferred to be silent after the arrests of the TMC minister Partha Chatterjee last and the recent interrogation of another minister Firhad Hakim by the ED, became critical on the day of ED’s 20-hour raid at Mallick’s residence on Thursday.
The TMC strongman, who served as food and supplies minister from 2011 to 2021 before taking charge of the forest department, is believed to be the architect behind the ruling party’s organisation base in North 24-Pargaans, where five Lok Sabha constituencies and 33 Assembly seats are located.
“Now it seems the chief minister held an unscheduled press conference on Thursday attacking the BJP on the issue of misusing central agencies as she rightly anticipated Mallick’s arrest. She knew Mallick’s arrest would be a jolt to the party in North 24-Parganas ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” said a senior TMC minister.
The leader also pointed out that Mamata’s sudden appearance two days ago was a message to her trusted men in the party that she would be beside them in case of BJP’s effort to engage central agencies against them.
“Mallick was the second minister of her cabinet arrested by the central agency as former education minister Partha Chatterjee was apprehended by the ED in connection with irregularities in school recruitment. Chatterjee, last year, was arrested along with his aide Arpita Mukherjee and ED recovered cash and jewellery worth nearly Rs 50 crore from the young actor’s properties which tarnished the image of the party badly. This seems to be the reason behind the chief minister’s silence,” said the leader.
Though Mamata, on Thursday, had threatened to lodge an FIR against the BJP and the ED if anything happens to Mallick, the party has not yet lodged any complaint.
The ED is yet to interrogate Mallick since his arrest as the court, which first ordered the investigating agency to take Mallick to the Army’s command hospital as he is suffering from high blood sugar, later allowed the plea of the family members of the minister to take him to a private healthcare unit.
“We are yet to interrogate Mallick since the court remanded him to our custody till November 6 as he is admitted to the private hospital. we are discussing his health issues with the doctors,” said an ED official.
Action against Mallick was followed by the recent arrest of Bakibur Rahaman, a prime accused in the ration scam and the revelation made by him during interrogation. Sources in the ED said it came across at least three shell companies having links with Mallick’s unaccounted money transaction.