Opposition demands removal of "tainted" West Bengal ministers

Kolkata: Opposition parties in West Bengal today welcomed the Calcutta High Court order on Narada sting operation and demanded immediate removal of "tainted" ministers from the state Cabinet.

"We welcome the verdict of the honourable court. The state government and Trinamool Congress had tried to hush up the matter by misusing the police administration. We demand that the tainted ministers should be immediately removed from the cabinet and the TMC MPs purportedly seen taking money in the video should resign," BJP secretary Rahul Sinha said.

Leader of opposition Abdul Mannan said, "I would like to ask the Chief Minister whether she would help in conducting the CBI investigation or again hit the streets on this issue. The TMC which claims to be a symbol of honesty has turned into a symbol of corruption."

CPI(M) state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra too welcomed the court's order but hoped that the "political match fixing" between TMC and BJP would not halt the progress of the investigation.

"We welcome the High Court verdict to conduct CBI inquiry on the #NaradaString. The TMC-BJP nexus must not be an impediment to conduct proper enquiry," he tweeted.

The Narada sting tapes, which were released before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections, had shown some persons resembling TMC leaders including ministers taking money.
The Calcutta High Court today ordered a preliminary inquiry by the CBI into the Narada sting operation.

The division bench noted that a report by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, had said that the tapes were not tampered with.