KOLKATA: The West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Suvendu Adhikari on Monday launched a scathing attack on the former Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee in the state, accusing it of prompting corruption in connection with the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
The CM also claimed that Trinamool Congress is yet to leave its old practice of ‘loot’ even after suffering a disastrous defeat to the BJP in the Bengal assembly elections.
Suvendu said that separate special investigation teams (SITs) would probe the alleged fake beneficiaries of Lakshmir Bhandar, the women's cash transfer scheme of the previous Trinamool Congress government, and the alleged forgery of signatures of MLAs in a letter submitted by the former ruling party to the office of the Speaker on the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
"It was revealed that many male beneficiaries had availed of the women's financial assistance under the scheme during the regime of the previous Trinamool Congress government in the state," he alleged.
He claimed, “Around 30 lakh Lakshmir Bhandar accounts are fake. I have asked the director general of police (DGP) to form an SIT to investigate the matter."
He said that a money laundering probe will also be conducted, as it involves illegal cash transfers.
He added that those people who were questioning the 12-page verification form for the new BJP government's Annapurna Bhandar scheme, in which the financial assistance to a woman beneficiary will be increased to Rs 3,000 per month, should take into account the instances of illegalities noticed in the erstwhile Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
Several men have already been arrested for availing the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme benefits by showing false claims, he said.
“The investigations have so far identified around 22 such fake accounts being operated by three people in Murshidabad district. One Mustafizur Rahman and his wife, Tuhina, operated 15 such fake accounts. Another individual identified as Tarikur Rahman operated six accounts,” he said.
"We will break these illegalities at the grassroots level," he noted.
The chief minister said that Annapurna Bhandar benefits will be released to a large number of women beneficiaries on Wednesday.
While referring to the matter related to the alleged forgeries of signatures, Suvendu said that two Trinamool Congress MLAs, Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, lodged complaints with the Speaker Rathindra Bose.
Accordingly, the secretary at the legislative assembly filed an FIR with the Hare Street police station on the Speaker’s instruction, and later the case was handed over to the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID). “This is not an act of political vendetta. The law is very clear to take its own course on this issue,” the CM said.
An hour after the CM’s press conference, the Trinamool Congress leadership expelled Ritabrata Banerjee from Uluberia Purba assembly constituency and Sandipan Saha from Entally in Kolkata on charges of anti-party activities.
On Saturday, a CID team went to Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s Kalighat Road residence in Kolkata and served him a notice. Abhishek was summoned to appear at the CID headquarters, Bhabani Bhawan, on Monday afternoon, but did not turn up, citing ill-health.
He has sought 15 days to appear before the CID.
“When we went to Lok Bhawan to stake claim to form the government, we had to submit a copy of the resolution. When my name was announced as the leader of the Opposition (in 2021), a copy of the minutes was submitted. That is the rule,” the CM said.
He also said the letter announcing Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition was submitted to the Speaker's office on May 20, and the two Trinamool MLAs lodged a formal complaint a week later.
The statements of 13 Trinamool Congress MLAs have been recorded by the investigating officials. In the letter submitted to the Speaker, 10 names were in block letters.
"Three Trinamool MLAs – Baharul Islam, Arup Roy and Shubhashis Das – have given statements to the CID that the signatures in the document were not theirs,” according to the CM.
