Kolkata: Welcoming the Supreme Court order directing CBI to probe the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam, the Congress on Friday described it as a "personal political defeat" of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee while the BJP said that the TMC stood "badly exposed".
"The Supreme Court verdict is a personal political loss of Mamata Banerjee, as she was opposed to a CBI inquiry. Her mask as the symbol of honesty has come out. The people of Bengal will give her a befitting reply," State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said.
Chowdhury, also a Union minister said, "She from the very beginning was opposed to the CBI inquiry even as several people have committed suicide and lakhs have been duped by Saradha and other chit fund companies."
"She was trying to fool the people, but the CBI inquiry will bring out the truth and will book those culprits who this Trinamool regime was trying to save," he said.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the Supreme Court verdict directing a CBI probe into the Saradha ponzi scam was "historic".
"It is welcome and historic that a CBI probe has been allowed by the Supreme Court in response to several PILs and a move which Congress party had been supporting from the beginning," he said.
BJP National spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said it was the worst kind of scam with the "connivance and blessings of the government of the day".
"We welcome the Supreme Court order. As far as Saradha is concerned, TMC is badly exposed," he said.
Asking why the TMC government was opposed to the CBI probe till the last moment, Javadekar said, "Because they are afraid of their nexus getting exposed. There is a clear nexus between the leaders and the government and this Saradha. People are defrauded and you are benefited. That`s the quid pro quo."
"It`s a loot of the people. TMC talks of the poor but here the poor have been looted," the BJP leader said.
CPI(M) West Bengal secretary Biman Bose said his party had been voicing the demand for a CBI inquiry ever since the scandal surfaced and expressed happiness over the apex court order.
Bose made some suggestions, saying "there should be an investigation based on the footage where it was shown that certain leaders were doing publicity for Saradha. The investigation should also be conducted into the close relationship between the Trinamool Congress and Saradha chit fund company."
Asked about the allegation levelled by the TMC that chit funds had mushroomed during Left Front regime, Bose said, "These things don`t work anymore. We have been saying this for a long time that if there is a CBI inquiry and if our leaders are found guilty, the law should take its own course."
