TMC for probe into cash scam

Admin   |   11 April, 2016   |   1035   |   3980

The video showed top Trinamool leaders, including MPs, MLAs and state ministers, purportedly receiving illegal cash payments.



The move to initiate probe comes just before Bengal going to polls for the second round of phase I on Monday. Even though the party leadership believes the footage’s impact is confined to urban areas, Mamata Banerjee is not willing to take a chance.



While Opposition parties, particularly the BJP, have been using the footage to attract attention of voters, Trinamool announced the launch of an internal inquiry. Party secretary general Partha Chatterjee told reporters that the internal probe should not be taken as a confession of guilt. “We’ve decided to conduct an internal inquiry into the Narada sting. If anyone is found guilty following the probe, the party will take appropriate action against him or her,” he said.



Dubbing it the “Narada scam” following the name of the news portal that conducted the “sting” operation, all the Opposition parties have been campaigning on the plank of “Saradha to Narada”, accusing the ruling party of graft. Saradha refers to a multi-crore scam surrounding a Ponzi scheme, which has embroiled a number of Trinamool leaders and ministers.



The controversial video footage, which Trinamool called “doctored”, has found its way to three public interest litigations at the Calcutta High Court. “We believe the entire sting operation was a political conspiracy,” Chatterjee said, adding that the internal probe team will also investigate the chances of the footage being part of a conspiracy to tarnish Trinamool’s image before the polls.



While Trinamool’s decision for an internal probe was ridiculed by all the Opposition parties, CPM Politburo member Mohammed Salim said that the ruling party was “trying to divert people’s attention from other pressing matters”. With the “Narada” footage finding prominent display in the Opposition’s campaign graphiti even in rural Bengal, and the recent collapse of an under-construction flyover in Kolkata, Trinamool is not willing to take any chances. Party sources admitted that the internal probe is an attempt to salvage the situation as much as possible before the upcoming polls.