West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a broadside against the Centre over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on the premises of political consultancy firm I-PAC and its director Pratik Jain’s residence in Kolkata as part of a money laundering investigation.
I-PAC looks after the IT cell of the Trinamool Congress.
High drama unfolded in the city after Banerjee arrived at Jain’s residence amid the ED raid and alleged that ED officials were attempting to seize TMC's hard disks, internal documents and sensitive organisational data.
“They are trying to take our party's hard disk, strategy and plans. Is it the duty of the ED to collect political parties' documents?,” she asked.
The chief minister alleged that the central agency was trying to access the ruling party's internal strategy, candidate lists and confidential digital material which had no link to any financial probe.
“This is not law enforcement, this is political vendetta. The home minister is behaving like the nastiest home minister, not someone who protects the country,” Banerjee further said.
Terming the ED raid as an act of intimidation, the chief minister warned that similar actions against the BJP would provoke strong reactions.
"What will be the result if I raid the BJP party office? On one side, they are deleting the names of all the voters by carrying out the SIR in West Bengal...Because of the elections, they are collecting all the information about my party," she said.
The Enforcement Directorate has been carrying out searches at 15 locations across the country as part of its probe into a fake government job scam in West Bengal, allegedly involving an organised network that duped candidates by offering fraudulent appointments.
