Opposition uses Dinesh Trivedi bribery remarks to attack Mamata Banerjee

Trinamul Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi’s comment that ruling party leaders caught on camera taking money should not step out of their homes till they come clean has handed ammunition to Opposition’s belligerent attack against the ruling party in poll-bound Bengal.

Intensifying attack against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee over the involvement of top TMC leaders in the Narada sting video, CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra on Saturday dared her to give a reply to Mr Trivedi’s remark. “At a time when Ms Banerjee is claiming that the video is doctored, her own party MP has suggested that the tainted party leaders should sit at home till they prove their innocence. What answer Ms Banerjee has for Dinesh Trivedi ” he asked. Mr Mishra was addressing an election rally at Bankura’s Mejia.

He also took potshots at state law minister Chandrima Bhattacharya who had on Friday claimed that TMC leaders may have taken donation and not bribe as alleged by the Opposition.

“So now they are accepting that the TMC leaders have taken money. If the money was donation then why did the recipients promise that they would do their work And pray, where are the receipts for the donation ” he asked. Mr Mishra also pointed out that CPI(M)-led Left Front ruled the state for 34 years, but not even one minister or leader was arrested by the CBI for corruption.

BJP leader Rahul Sinha also said that Mr Trivedi’s statement was an admission that his party colleagues had taken bribe. State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said that whatever Mr Trivedi said was eminently sensible. “But who in the TMC will heed his sage advice ” he wondered.

Congress candidate from Bidhannagar Aruvana Ghosh lauded Mr Trivedi for publicly declaring that those TMC leaders who were shown in the sting video clip taking money must keep low profile till they are proven not guilty.

Participating at a panel discussion in Delhi organised by CII, Mr Trivedi had said on Friday: “Let’s say if I were head of the party, I would have just said, ‘You come out clean and tell us what it is. And till the time you are clear, you sit at home’.”

The TMC MP from Barrackpore added that had Ms Banerjee taken this step, her party would have swept the Assembly polls.