Saradha scam: BJP says Mamata Banerjee is pressing panic button

New Delhi: BJP slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her 'political vendetta' charge over action in Saradha scam, saying she is pressing the 'panic button' and 'rattled' by the possibility that her 'own involvement' could come to light.

"Dare does not matter. Sometimes I can say these are politically motivated attempts...If anything which is linking Mamata Banerjee with the scam, she would be investigated and interrogated by the CBI. It is for CBI to take that call and not for me to direct the CBI.

"And it will be determined on the fact of the case and investigating material, which is before the police. I am no one to direct CBI, nor is the BJP. CBI is an autonomous institution," BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi told reporters outside Parliament.

She said that if Banerjee has done anything wrong or committed any wrong in terms of conspiracy which has happened or if any link is found connecting her with Saradha scam 'her dare will go away' a because the police then take its course.

Another party spokesperson G V L Narsimha Rao attacked Banerjee, saying she has 'lost all her courage' and making this kind of 'adventurous comments' without offering explanation for the kind of 'criminal conspiracy that her party leaders were engaged in perpetrating' in the chit fund scam.

"She is possibly rattled by the revelations and possibly fears that her own involvement in the scam would come to light," he said.

BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh took on the Trinamool Congress chief, saying that it is unfortunate that rather than giving a sober advice to her own leadership not to react, she herself is reacting like this. "This just goes to show her panic button," he said.

Singh also reminded that it was not the BJP government but the Supreme Court, which had ordered an inquiry into it in May 2014.

In an embarrassment to the ruling Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Transport Minister Madan Mitra was arrested by CBI in the multi-crore Saradha scam, prompting Mamata to slam BJP calling it a 'political vendetta' and a 'dirty conspiracy'.