Will challenge Narada ruling: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: Terming the Calcutta high court’s order for a CBI investigation into the Narada sting video as “unfortunate”, chief minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said that her party would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.

“Of course our party will go to the Supreme Court for justice. If we think we have not got justice, we have the right to go to the higher court,” Ms Banerjee said.

Ms Banerjee also gave a political twist to the development, expressing her amazement on how the state BJP president could predict the judiciary’s order some days ago.

“It is in public domain what the state BJP president had said 20-25 days ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. He had said that Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe will be ordered. It is most unfortunate. As a lawyer, I am really shocked. How did the BJP leader know in advance what the court is going to order,” the chief minister said without naming BJP state President Dilip Ghosh.

She claimed that three of her ministers who had been seen in the Narada video clip had only taken donations.

“During elections, one can take amounts of '1 lakh, '2 lakh as donation. It is allowed by the Election Commission, which has fixed ceiling for such donations. We have submitted income tax returns. We have given all reports to the EC also,” the TMC supremo said.

The chief minister elaborated that her landslide victory in the 2016 Assembly polls, despite the Bharatiya Janata Party’s showcasing the video clips days ahead of the elections to pin her ministers down on corruption charges, is a clear indication that the people have faith in them.

“You will remember that the leaked Narada video tapes were aired from the state BJP office. Yet, some of our key leaders shown in the video clips such as Sovan Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim won the elections with flying colours,” she added.

She questioned the role of the Narada CEO, who was seen offering wads of notes in the video. “The person who featured in the footage handing over notes, is he not an offender?” she asked, without naming Narada CEO Mathew Samuel.

“The sting was published from the BJP office at the time of Assembly elections, and the Kolkata police was not allowed to conduct an investigation,” she added.

Latching on to the popular maxim that the King can do no wrong, the Trinamul supremo went on the offensive againt the ruling BJP and said, “The King can do no wrong, only commoners can.”