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Suvendu-Tushar Mehta meeting: TMC leaders meet President, demand SG’s sacking

TMC MPs have also sought an inquiry against Solicitor General Mehta

suvendu tushar A collage of Suvendu Adhikari (left) and Tushar Mehta (PTI)

A delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs on Monday met President Ramnath Kovind to seek his intervention to conduct an inquiry against Solicitor General Tushar Mehta over his alleged meeting with BJP leader Suvendu Adhikary. The team also demanded Mehta’s resignation.

The team, comprising Rajya Sabha MP S.S. Roy and Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra, brought to the President's attention that there was a breach of conduct on the part of the solicitor general in meeting with the opposition leader of the West Bengal assembly. Their allegations were based on reports about the meeting published by various media.

“(A) meeting between an accused person in grave criminal offenses and solicitor general of India, who is advising the very investigating agencies who are investigating and prosecuting such an accused person, reeks of impropriety and blatant conflict of interests. Such a meeting makes a total mockery of the criminal justice system in our country and would only serve to destroy the common man’s faith in the (Indian) judiciary," the MPs said in a letter to the President.

The TMC has requested the President to hold an inquiry against Mehta and also ask him to make the CCTV footage from July 1, the day the alleged meeting took place, public. “And pending such an inquiry, he must tender his resignation,” the letter said.

The party has decided to take up the issue in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament. Sources said that President Kovind would forward the letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who heads the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet that elects the solicitor general. 

This is the third such incident of the TMC seeking a high-profile removal. Earlier, they had sought the removal of West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. The party-controlled bar council of West Bengal had also written to Chief Justice Justice N.V. Ramanna to remove Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal. The chairman of the bar council is also a prominent TMC member.

Interestingly, TMC’s outburst against the solicitor general can be seen only from an ethical point of view, rather than from a legal perspective as the post of the solicitor general is not a constitutional post. According to a Union government order, solicitor general can meet an accused other than his government client provided he obtains a permission from the central government. As Home Minister Amit Shah met Suvendu before the latter met with Mehta, questions remain if the BJP leader met Mehta on Shah's advice.

At the same time, with Mehta's outright denial of the meeting, it is not clear if Suvendu has submitted a petition to the solicitor general without meeting him. It would be surprising on the part of a state opposition leader, a position on a par with a state cabinet minister, to visit the solicitor general's residence and drop a letter or petition without meeting him. 

Another interesting aspect is TMC’s charges on Suvendu against the cases he faces—Narada and Sarada scams. While Suvendu is an accused in the Narada scam, he is yet to be named in the Sarada case by the CBI. Also, admitting the cases as "grave criminal" in nature could also come back as solid rebuttal for the BJP as two senior leaders of the TMC, accused and chargesheeted in Narada scam, are still cabinet ministers in the state. So, in a way, it seems that the TMC has taken Suvendu as a prominent political adversary who could become a political threat as well. 



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