- Abhishek Banerjee refused to surrender amid investigations by ED and CID in West Bengal
- He faced 11-hour ED grilling over alleged school recruitment scam in Kolkata
- Banerjee accused BJP of trying to create an opposition-less political system in the state
Trinamool Congress general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is facing a string of investigations, has declared he will not surrender or bow down to the BJP. Banerjee struck a defiant tone after an 11-hour grilling by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the agency's Salt Lake office in Kolkata in the alleged school recruitments scam.
Coming out of the ED office late on Monday night, Banerjee said: "I will come again if they summon me, but we will not surrender even if they slit our throats."
The marathon questioning took place a day after Banerjee had a similar session for nearly eight and a half hours with the state CID regarding the alleged forgery of MLAs' signatures on documents related to the appointment of the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly.
Abhishek Banerjee claimed that the BJP is going all out to establish an opposition-less political system in West Bengal. "The less said about the BJP, the better. For the past month, efforts have been made to suppress, intimidate and destroy the opposition forces who are fighting without bowing their heads. This entire exercise is to establish an opposition-less political system in West Bengal," he said.
"They have cracked the elected MLAs and MPs of the party. However, all I want to say is that all these exercises will not ultimately yield results. We will not surrender."
Mamata Banerjee's nephew continues to face consecutive interrogations by the ED and the Criminal Investigation Department in a series of alleged corruption and "hate speech" cases. On Tuesday, he will have to appear at the CID headquarters in South Kolkata for questioning in connection with an FIR registered against him, where he has been accused of inciting violence and threatening Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the recently concluded Assembly polls in the state. The CID officials served him a notice on the evening of June 12.
On the political front, Abhishek Banerjee is in the line of fire of his party leaders, who have rebelled citing his control over party and his style of functioning. The rebellion, primarily stemming out of resentment against the general secretary, has led to both legislature party and Parliamentary party splitting and majority of elected MLAs and MPs deserting the Trinamool Congress.
While over 60 of the Trinamool's elected 80 MLAs have formed a separate group led by Ritabrata Banerjee and have declared themselves "real" Trinamool, at least 20 of the party's 28 Lok Sabha MPs have also defected and declared that they will support the ruling NDA in the House. This group of MPs is set to merge with a lesser known party NCPI soon. At least three of the party's Rajya Sabha MPs have also quit the Upper House and party leaving the TMC with diminished heft in Parliament.
