Kolkata: Senior Trinamool Congress leader and Mamata Banerjee's close aide Sovandeb Chattopadhyay has taken on critics, especially the BJP, who have questioned the party on alleged corruption. The Trinamool is battling perception after the arrest of its suspended leader and former minister Partha Chatterjee. The party has been trying to distance itself from the former minister.
"People are saying there are a lot of thieves in your party. Yes, they are there. But I am looking for a political party that does not have a single thief. I will sweep the office of such a party if they can say they have no thieves," Sovandeb Chattopadhyay told party workers at an event to distribute blankets.
"Why do they say this? They have recovered around Rs 50 crore in Partha's name. He has done a grave wrong. If he is punished, we have no grief. I feel pain at what has happened. But why not compare it with the Rs 13,000 crore Nirav Modi fled with. Who facilitated him? I have gone abroad many times. You have to get a visa. You also have to undergo security checks," Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said, addressing party workers in North 24 Parganas.
Partha Chatterjee has been in jail after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on July 23. The agency found around Rs 50 crore in cash from premises linked to his close aide, Actor Arpita Chatterjee. Soon after, he was sacked as a minister and from the party.
Sovandeb Chattopadhyay had brought Partha Chatterjee into politics, and he won the 2021 Legislative Assembly election from Bhowanipore, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's constituency. After last year's elections, Mr Chattopadhyay resigned from the seat once Ms Banerjee decided to contest the by-election following her loss in Nandigram to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari.
Mr Chattopadhyay, one of the oldest aides of Mamata Banerjee, was re-elected to the assembly from Khardah. He is the state's agriculture minister and is known as a politician with a clean image.
Senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh took a swipe at Mr Chattopadhyay over his comments.
"He has said the right thing. Just like all kinds of people exist in society, in parties too all kinds of people exist. But in Trinamool, almost everyone is a thief and Sovandeb Chattopadhyay is struggling to survive there. It is unbecomig of him to stay in the party," Mr Ghosh said.