2 more TMC leaders in bribery net

Even before the Mamata Banerjee government could recover from the shock of the Narada sting video which showed 11 top TMC leaders taking bribe, it received another blow on Monday. In what the BJP described as Narada Part II, two more Trinamul Congress leaders, including a party MP, were caught on camera — one taking cash and the other seeking stake in business projects. Sankhudeb Panda, former TMC general secretary, was extremely close to chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Aparupa Poddar — younger TMC Lok Sabha member, is so excited seeing wads of currency notes that she phones someone asking him to bring a black bag to keep the ill-gotten black money. The authenticity of the tape could not be independently verified by this newspaper.

“I am with you. Just let me know what you need and leave the rest of the work to me. I want a stake in the subject. If I get my stake, then it matters of course. I will tell you I need a stake in this man’s name. I have people. Let me tell you one thing very clearly. I have no profession just now. If I have to be in politics in future then I have to do something. This will be my business,” Mr Panda was seen saying this to the owner of the fictitious company in the video.

It may be recalled that Mr Panda had conducted a sting operation on former CPI MLA Sheikh Mohammed Ilyas in 2004 which similarly showed him accepting bribe. The MLA had to resign following the sting operation.

On the other hand, the young TMC MP from Arambagh Apurapa Poddar could not hide her excitement after seeing bundles of cash offered to her. “Please bring me my purse. Bring me the black one,” the MP was seeing asking someone to bring her purse over phone. The news portal uploaded both the videos in the evening.

Reacting to the video footage, Ms Poddar said, “I have no idea about it. I am giving an ultimatum to the Central government to order a probe and verify the footage. If I am found guilty, then I will resign within seven days.”

TMC national spokesperson Derek O’Brien issued a statement in the evening which read, “This is nothing but dirty political vendetta. This is the cheap politics of black money and blackmailing. This is the politics of political parties who already know they have lost the elections. Trinamul is not afraid.”

Slamming the ruling Trinamul Congress, BJP said chief minister Mamata Banerjee either prove the video wrong or must step down immediately.

On March 14, the website had uploaded a 24-minute long video which exposed eleven Trinamul Congress leaders and one senior police officer accepting wads of currency notes from a fake consulting firm to allow it to set up a company in West Bengal.