Kolkata: Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien announced on Thursday that the party has decided to suspend Sheikh Shahjahan from the party for six years.
Meanwhile, Shahjahan was brought to the West Bengal Police Directorate in Kolkata on February 29. He was arrested owing to an assault on officers of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) during a raid in the last month. has been remanded to 10-day police custody.
Shahjahan’s arrest came three days after the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice ordered to add his name to the Sandeshkhali row. He was detained from Minakhah in North 24 Parganas district late on Wednesday night after being on the run for 55 days and was remanded to 10-day police custody by a district court on Thursday.
In the wake of the incident, state Education Minister Bratya Basu said that the decision to suspend Shahjahan proves that the TMC party takes steps against those facing specific allegations. This is nothing new for the party, as it has done this before as well.
Drawing a comparison between BJP and Trinamool, the minister further asked, "BJP is not like Trinamool Congress. I challenge the Prime Minister to suspend party leaders like Suvendu Adhikari, Narayan Rane, and Himanta Biswa Sarma. What steps have been taken against the Chief Minister of Manipur or BJP leaders like Brij Bhusan?"
Meanwhile, state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar termed the suspension nothing but a face-saving exercise. "Till yesterday, the ruling party was denying Shahjahan’s involvement in any kind of wrongdoing. Both the arrest and the suspension are part of a scripted drama. The way in which Shahjahan entered the district court, it didn't seem that he was under arrest. It seemed as if Shahjahan had arrested the cops," Majumdar said.
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