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NEW DELHI: BJP on Sunday dismissed West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s contention that her dramatic intervention in the ED raids at I-PAC premises in Kolkata was in her capacity as TMC president, and suggested that her compulsion to remove evidence linking “coal scam” proceeds to her party might be the real reason. BJP Lok Sabha member Ravi Shankar Prasad also hit out at the state govt for the alleged attack on its Bengal leader Suvendu Adhikari’s convoy and said no FIR was registered despite BJP’s complaint. He said BJP functionaries have often been at the receiving end of such violence, often in the presence of state police. Slamming Banerjee, he said she was seen clutching a specific green file, which was removed during ED raids, and shrugged off her assertion that the central agency was looking to steal her party’s poll strategy, including the list of its probable candidates. “Why did a CM have to personally retrieve a file during a raid? What specific incriminating evidence was in that green file? Names of coal scam beneficiaries, the TMC leaders involved, the route of the hawala money, or the list of officers who facilitated the smuggling,” he asked. Prasad alleged that her “desperation” might be linked to the tunnelling of hawala money to fund her party’s campaign in the last Goa assembly polls.
