Kolkata--Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a “political fight” and said he may use CBI to send “500 notices” to the Trinamool Congress — “financially weakest and cleanest party in India” — but cannot stifle the voice protesting against his “anti-people” policies including the Land Acquisition Bill.
“I challenge you Narendra Modi, come and fight us politically. You can send me 500 notices if you want but you can’t stifle my voice,” Mamata said.
“Whoever will speak against Narendra Modi, he will send the person a notice. It is his work. I am not afraid of him. I know how to fight,” she said in her first campaign rally for the Kolkata municipal polls in Burrabazar area.
Her statements came a day after the TMC submitted documents to CBI, three days after the agency re-sent a notice seeking details of its accounts.”We have replied to the CBI notice. Tell me have you (CBI) sent notices to Congress, CPI(M), Samajwadi Party, CPI or BJP? BJP has spent thousand of crores (of rupees) on its election campaign. Has CBI sent it notices? How much money Vedanta has paid to the BJP? Who took money from Sahara group? Where is the diary of Sahara, whose names were there?”she asked.
The TMC chief said it was clear that only her party got notices from the central agency as she was opposing the ant-farmer land bill. She that it was an insult that the financially weakest and cleanest party in India was served such a notice. She said party’s entire fund corpus was not more than Rs 20 crore to Rs 25 crore.
She also gave a public explanation on the money raised through sale of her paintings. “About 300 of my paintings fetched only about Rs 2 crore out of which Rs 1.10 crore was donated to the chief minister’s relief fund, which at that point of time was almost empty while another Rs 10 lakh was given to the Governor’s relief fund,” she said.
Manila Bulletin
