Bengal CM should quit following SC order: Adityanath
MIDNAPORE: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday that his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee had no right to remain in power after the Supreme Court directed the Kolkata police commissioner to cooperate in a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was thwarted by the police from questioning the officer two days ago.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court ruled that Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar should allow himself to be questioned by the CBI, which is investigating allegations against the officer relating to a ~10,000 crore chit fund scandal involving the Saradha group, which collapsed in 2013. The apex court said no coercive action should be taken against Kumar, ordering that he be questioned in a neutral venue, Shillong in Meghalaya. Banerjee claimed a “moral victory” after the court restrained the CBI from arresting Kumar.
In his first appearance at a public rally in the state ruled by Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Adityanath said: “What type of a chief minister is she? She has come forward to save an officer who is an accused in the Saradha scam. There is nothing more shameful. After the SC order, she has no right to remain in the chair; she should resign on moral grounds.”
Adityanath, who was denied permission to fly to Bengal by helicopter, travelled by road from Bokaro in Bharatiya Janata Party (Bjp)-ruled Jharkhand to address the rally.
The BJP is hoping to make inroads into West Bengal, the bastion of Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. BJP president Amit Shah has set his party a target of winning 22 of the 42 seats that West Bengal fills in the Lower House.
Banerjee responded to Adiyanath’s rally speech by accusing him of abetting mob lynchings in his state and claimed that the BJP would fail to win another election in UP. “So many people have been killed, even policemen were murdered. How many people have been lynched in Uttar Pradesh? Let him take care of UP first,” she said.
Adityanath claimed that Bengal, which produced towering personalities such as Swami Vivekananda, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Rabindranath Tagore, and gave India its national song and anthem, was now experiencing anarchy under the Trinamool Congress’s rule.
“This government is totally dishonest. They do not work for development...,” he alleged. “The state that once led other parts of the country in the freedom movement itself now needs political freedom...,” said Adityanath.
“We have to save Bengal from lawlessness, anarchy , dishonesty and goondagiri (thuggery) of the TMC,” he added.
“We have stopped the goondagiri of SP and BSP in Uttar Pradesh. We will teach the ones here the same lesson...,” he said.
After being refused permission for his helicopter to land, the UP chief minister had to reach the venue at Bhangra village in Purulia by road after his helicopter landed in Bokaro in Jharkhand, about 55 km away. On Sunday, Adityanath addressed two rallies in Raigunj and Balurghat in Bengal over the phone after his helicopter was denied permission to land.