NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the Centre of holding political vendetta, alleging that central agencies were being misused ahead of elections, after the Enforcement Directorate carried out searches at various locations, including the residence of IPAC chief Pratik Jain. Reacting sharply to the action, Banerjee questioned the role of the ED and Union home minister Amit Shah. She claimed that party documents and data were being seized under the pretext of investigations. She also alleged that voter names were being deleted in West Bengal during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision exercise, linking the moves to the election process.”..Is it the duty of the ED, Amit Shah to collect the party’s hard disk, candidate list?… The nasty, naughty Home Minister who cannot protect the country and is taking away all my party documents. What will be the result if I raid the BJP party office? ” she questioned.”On one side, they are deleting the names of all the voters by carrying out the SIR in West Bengal…Because of the elections, they are collecting all the information about my party…” she added. The BJP hit back at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of interfering in a central agency probe. Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, termed Banerjee’s visit to the residence of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain during an ED raid as “unconstitutional” and “direct interference” in the investigation. Adhikari said the Enforcement Directorate should take action against the chief minister, alleging that her presence, along with that of the Kolkata police commissioner, was unethical and improper while the search was underway at Jain’s Loudon Street residence. He also pointed out that I-PAC manages the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress and drew parallels with a previous incident, claiming that Banerjee had similarly visited the then Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s official residence during a CBI raid.This comes after the Enforcement Directorate conducted raid at houses of IT chiefs of various political parties including TMC’s IPAC chief Prateek Jain. The raids were carried out at 15 location in connection with a fake government job scam allegedly run by an organised gang that duped people by promising jobs, officials said.
