In Kolkata, ED raided the premises of I-PAC chief Prateek Jain in connection with the coal scam case, after which West Bengal has become a political arena. Amid the ED raid, CM Mamata Banerjee reached the residence of I-PAC Chief Prateek Jain and alleged that the central agency was trying to seize Trinamool Congress’s internal documents, hard disks and sensitive data related to its election strategy.
CM Mamata came out with a green file
CM Mamata Banerjee said, ‘The raid on the residence and offices of my IT cell in-charge Prateek Jain is politically motivated and unconstitutional.’ After Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma reached K Prateek’s house, CM Mamata Banerjee also reached there. She stayed there for about 20-25 minutes and then came out with a green colored file in her hand.
He said, ‘ED raided the residence and offices of my IT cell and searched the residence of the in-charge of my IT cell. They were confiscating my party’s documents and hard disks, which contained details of our party’s candidates for the assembly elections. I have taken them back. He accused ED officials of seizing hard disks, mobile phones, laptops, candidates lists and internal strategy related documents of the ruling party.
Amit Shah is scaring opposition parties: Mamata Banerjee
The Chief Minister asked, ‘Is it the job of ED to collect data of political parties?’ Apart from political consultancy for Trinamool Congress, I-PAC also handles the IT and media cell of the party. Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), CM Mamata Banerjee termed these search operations as politics of revenge and accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of misusing constitutional agencies to intimidate opposition parties.
‘The Prime Minister should control his Home Minister’
He said, ‘This is not following the law. This is the way of working of the most strict Home Minister, who is responsible for the security of the country? I am sorry, Amit Shah ji, the Prime Minister should control his Home Minister.
Mamata Banerjee alleged, ‘They started the search when there was no one inside. They transferred our data, election strategy and information to their system. This is a crime. He tried to take all the documents from the office. The tables are empty. If the documents have to be prepared again, it will take so much time that the elections will be over. Was it right for him to do so?
The Bengal CM said that Trinamool Congress is a registered political party and pays income tax regularly. He said, ‘Our representatives are elected. If ED needed any information, they could have taken details from the Income Tax Department.
‘BJP is the biggest party of thieves’
The Trinamool Congress chief asked why central agencies do not send notices to BJP leaders. He said, ‘BJP is the biggest party of thieves. What will happen if we raid BJP party offices in Bengal in response to this ED search? We are exercising restraint, but our restraint should not be considered our weakness.
According to sources, during the search, several files were taken out from the office and kept in the Chief Minister’s vehicle while she was at Jain’s residence. CM Mamata Banerjee later left for the office in Sector-5 and reached there at around 1 pm. By then, senior officials of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate had cordoned off the area, while many local leaders and ministers of the Trinamool Congress, including Bidhannagar Mayor Krishna Chakraborty and Minister of State Sujit Bose, were already present.
‘BJP should show political competition’
Senior police officers of the state including Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar also reached the office. Central forces had sealed the entry and exit points of the multi-storey building where the I-PAC office is located. Without contacting the central force personnel, Mamata Banerjee entered the building and took a common lift to the 11th floor, where the office is located, while a separate lift was available for VIPs.
CM Mamata said, ‘If BJP wants to win in Bengal then it should compete with us politically.’ She said that she will remain in the I-PACK office until Prateek Jain arrives and starts work. He also called upon party workers to protest in every block of the state against the ED raids.
When the Chief Minister was asked whether she had been able to talk to Jain, she said, ‘I had called him regarding party matters, but he did not pick up the phone and on enquiry, I came to know that his phone had been taken by the ED. Then I thought that perhaps he had stolen all our strategy and election related information, after which I immediately went to his residence. After Jain came to her office, she left the I-PAC office at around 4:14 pm.
