Team News Riveting
Kolkata, May 17
In what could be the first show of strength against the “centre” after a thumping victory in Bengal state polls, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) today lodged a vehement protest against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after it arrested two ministers in infamous Narada case.
The CBI on Monday morning arrested state ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, TMC MLA Madan Mitra besides former minister Sovan Chatterjee in connection with the Narada sting case in which politicians were purportedly caught taking money on camera. The ruling TMC workers came out on streets and thronged the probe agency’s office at Nizam Place.
Hundreds of TMC supporters defied the ongoing lockdown and lodged vehement protest against the Centre. They raised slogans against the BJP-led NDA government and hurled stones and bricks at security personnel in protest against the arrests.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who arrived at the CBI office around 11 am, alleged told CBI officers that they have to arrest her if they want her to leave Nizam Palace. The CBI sources said Banerjee’s actions were akin to interference in the probe handed over to the agency by the Calcutta High Court.
The agitators also burnt tyres and blocked roads in several other parts of the state, including Hooghly, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts.
Reacting to the arrests, TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh claimed that the CBI action was a vengeful act and a fallout of the BJP’s loss in the West Bengal assembly elections.
