Power of INDIA alliance has shaken the foundation of BJP: TMC's Abhishek Banerjee

File Photo/PTI

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee Thursday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party is feeling threatened by the opposition INDIA alliance. The statement follows his lengthy questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam.

He described the BJP as fearful and the NDA as shaken, emphasizing the power of the INDIA coalition.

"BJP is afRAID and the NDA is scarED. Behold the spectacle of the faltering titan as tremors of fear shake their foundation! This is the power of #INDIA ," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Banerjee had previously claimed that the ED's actions were aimed at preventing him from participating in the coordination committee meeting of the INDIA alliance, highlighting the TMC's significant role in uniting opposition parties. Despite the ED's questioning, he asserted that he had nothing to hide and criticized the agency's actions as an attempt to appease their political superiors.

"The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is wasting its time, but I don't blame it. The agency's officials are doing this to please their political masters. Even if they question me for 72 hours continuously, I don't care as I have nothing to hide," Banerjee had told reporters after a marathon nine-hour questioning.

The Trinamool believes that the choice of September 13 for the questioning was not coincidental. They view it as a result of "political vendetta" by the central government, which is allegedly using its agencies against its political opponents. They argue that Abhishek Banerjee, who is considered the second most prominent figure in the Trinamool, is being targeted as part of a larger conspiracy. As a sign of protest, some members of the INDIA alliance's coordination committee decided to keep a seat empty during the meeting. Twelve parties attended the meeting, and the Trinamool was supposed to be the thirteenth.

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However, the BJP countered these claims, stating that the ED's investigation is being conducted in accordance with the law. The choice of September 13 was reportedly influenced by an order from the Kolkata High Court, which required the ED to submit evidence of the investigation's diligence by September 14. The court had also inquired why everyone implicated in the investigation had not been questioned yet.

Abhishek Banerjee's name allegedly came up in connection with a company called Leaps and Bounds during the investigation into educational recruitment irregularities.