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'Alliance of corrupt' emerging to save each other, says BJP after Opposition's support to Mamata

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'Alliance of corrupt' emerging to save each other, says BJP after Opposition's support to Mamata
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The BJP said Monday an "alliance of the corrupt" is emerging, after several opposition parties supported West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her protest against the CBI's move to question Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar in the multi-crore Saradha scam case. At a presser in Delhi, BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wondered if Banerjee backed the police commissioner because he held "secrets" and hence needed to be saved. Refuting Opposition's charge that CBI's attempt to question Kumar was an attack on federalism and Modi government's political vendetta, he said this cannot be an "alibi to save the corrupt". The CBI has acted as per law and it has the authority to arrest or question a person without a warrant, he asserted. "They (the opposition parties) should answer if probing corruption is a sin. Or if investigating the loot of thousands of crores from small investors is a sin. Theirs is an opportunist alliance and an alliance of the corrupt is emerging to save each other," he said. The law minister said the leaders of the "grand alliance" from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, are facing probe in corruption cases. West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee sitting on Dharna West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee sitting on Dharna The West Bengal chief minister is on a dharna since Sunday night over the CBI's attempt to question the Kolkata Police commissioner in connection with the alleged chit-fund scams. Joined by Jitendra Singh, a minister of state in the department of personnel, Prasad also took strong exception to the presence of the Kolkata police commissioner at the dharna site, saying it was "unprecedented" and he has exposed himself to the charge of serious violation of rules guiding the conduct of police officers. Singh also echoed his view. Asked if the Union government would take action against him, Prasad parried the question. Asked whether the President's rule can be imposed in the state, he said a "long rope is given in such things". He said Banerjee, a chief minister, has defied all norms by sitting on a dharna. She kept "quiet" when many of her Trinamool Congress leaders, including MPs, were arrested in corruption cases but has started a sit-in to support a police officer. It seems the Kolkata police chief knows "a lot of secrets", Prasad said. "These suspicious circumstances clearly indicate that the police commissioner knows a lot and therefore needed to be saved. What is her (Banerjee's) compulsion?" he said. Kumar, the Kolkata police chief, was in charge of the special investigation team constituted by Banerjee in 2013 to probe the chit-fund cases, and there are allegations that it destroyed or manipulated the evidence, the BJP leader said. The apex court had asked the CBI to look into the "larger conspiracy" and any irregularity by regulatory bodies, he said and accused the state government of trying to "frustrate" the investigation of those at the "top". Rejecting the opposition's charge that the CBI move was BJP's political vendetta, Prasad said it must be noted that the cases were filed and then the Supreme Court handed over their probe to the CBI before the BJP came to power in 2014. Taking a dig at the Congress over its support to Banerjee, he quoted a tweet the party had posted in May 2014. The Congress had cited Rahul Gandhi's condemnation of people losing their money in chit funds in West Bengal. The CBI moved to question Kumar as he did not respond to its three summonses for appearing before him for questioning, he said. Prasad added that the state police did not cooperate with the CBI's attempt to contact different police officers who had probed the case before it was handed over to the agency. He also wondered if Banerjee is trying to project her as the leader of opposition parties with her dharna and asked what other leaders such as Mayawati, the BSP supremo, has to say on this. The BJP leader also attacked the TMC chief for putting "obstacles" in the way of political programmes of the saffron party. The TMC chief, he claimed, has become "completely demoralised" because of people's support to the BJP. To the allegation that the CBI is not acting against Mukul Roy, who was allegedly involved in the chit fund case, because he had quit TMC to join BJP, Prasad said no one will be spared. PTI-
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