Kolkata: Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Friday said he will participate in the party's protest programme in New Delhi on October 3, a day after he was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in connection with the school jobs scam in Kolkata on the same day.
Without naming anyone, the TMC national general secretary challenged the ED to "stop" him if they could. "The fight against the deprivation of WB and its rightful dues shall persist regardless of the obstacles. No force on Earth can hinder my dedication to fight for the people of WB and their fundamental rights. I'll be in Delhi joining the protest on Oct 2nd & 3rd. STOP ME IF U CAN!" he wrote on 'X'.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday had summoned Banerjee on October 3 for questioning in connection with the school jobs scam in Kolkata, which the party described as an attempt by the BJP to disrupt its planned rally in New Delhi on the same day.
Banerjee, along with other party MPs, MLAs and leaders, will pay their respects to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in the national capital on October 2 on his birth anniversary. A TMC delegation will meet the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh on October 3 and place before him the issue of "non-release of dues" under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
The ruling party of West Bengal had claimed that the BJP is afraid of the TMC's programme in New Delhi and is trying to scuttle the people's voice. Reacting to Banerjee's statement, the West Bengal BJP unit accused the TMC leadership of not cooperating with the probe.
"No one is bothered about whether he is attending a summons or not. Lakhs of job aspirants have been duped, and their careers have been destroyed because of this scam. The probe into the School Service Commision (SSC) scam is being done as per the court's instructions. The TMC wants this probe to stop," BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said the summons coinciding with TMC's programme is an attempt by the BJP and the central agencies to make him "relevant."
"When the programme is pre-announced and the ED is summoning him on the same day, it is quite clear that it is just an attempt by the BJP and central agencies to make him relevant and ensure that the entire media glare is on him. The BJP and the TMC have a tacit understanding, and such instances only prove it," he said.
Banerjee, who was questioned by ED for nearly nine hours in the teacher recruitment scam on September 13, had then claimed that the interrogation was an effort to prevent him from participating in the coordination committee meeting of opposition bloc INDIA.
Earlier, the ED questioned the two-time TMC MP from Diamond Harbour twice in the coal pilferage case in the agency's office in Delhi in 2021 and in Kolkata in 2022. In May this year, he was questioned by the CBI for nine hours in the school jobs scam. (PTI)
