Kolkata: West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay on Monday summoned senior CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers on September 22 at the Assembly to explain why no permission had been taken from the speaker’s office before submitting charge sheets against ministers and MLAs.
“It was surprising that they tried to bypass the office of the speaker. It is mandatory that they should seek the Speaker’s permission before filing any charge sheet against any MLA. That procedure has been followed earlier too. But surprisingly they decided to bypass the Speaker’s office although my office was never closed,” said Biman.
Notably, TMC secretary general Partha Chattopadhyay was quizzed by CBI for participating in a ponzi scam.
It can be recalled that over Narada bribery scam TMC leaders and ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) mayor Sovan Chattopadhyay were even arrested by the CBI over the Saradha chit fund scam.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said that if the Speaker had written the letter then it is the duty of the central agencies to revert.
West Bengal BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said that if the Speaker thinks his chair is allowed to do so then he can do whatever he thinks.
West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh however had earlier said that the TMC is trying new things to avoid the agencies.
“The probe will take its own course. The TMC is afraid of the agencies and trying to find out new ways to stop the agencies from probing,” Ghosh said.
