CBI summons to Mukul Roy makes Mamata nervous

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Mukul Roy held a closed-door meeting with party chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, soon after arriving in Kolkata amid speculation that he will visit the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office on Thursday for questioning on his alleged role in the Saradha chit fund scam.

“I was contacted by the CBI on Monday. I was in Delhi for party work and had told CBI officials that I would meet them on my return. I have returned today (Wednesday). I will definitely inform the CBI when I would be meeting them and will inform my party members of the same. I repeat, I have never been involved in any immoral activity,” Roy told reporters here at the state secretariat.

Though Roy did not reveal the discussions of the meeting, sources indicate that the duo discussed about filing a petition with the Supreme Court over the CBI investigations in Saradha scam. TMC had earlier indicated, that the party will move the apex court as CBI has not named any of its arrested leaders in the charge sheet but are refusing to grant bail. Former Union minister and Congress leader Kapil Sibal is being roped in to defend TMC leaders accused in Saradha case in court.

However, sources in the party inform that Banerjee is extremely worried about the outcome of the interrogation, as earlier state cabinet minister Madan Mitra was arrested by the CBI officials on the first day of his interrogation.

“Didi (Banerjee) is more worried than Mukul. If arrested it will be a serious setback for the party and the moral of the cadres as opposition will now get more armory to attack the party. Also her own credibility will be questioned Already we have failed to secure bail for Madan and Srijoy for the last one month,” said a senior party functionary.

Roy, who was known as the de facto number two in the party after Banerjee has been sidelined by the party after his name reportedly figuring as one of the beneficiaries of the Saradha Group. He was not seen with Banerjee in many of her visit to the districts and Avishek, Banerjee’s nephew who is a member of parliament from Bengal has been given the organisational charge.

“Change of guard per se will not help as the world knows that Mukul is the key functionary of the TMC and is certainly credited for winning 34 of the 42 parliamentary constituencies in the state in 2014. If he is arrested by the CBI then few options will be left for Banerjee,” said another senior leader.