TMC leaders seek ouster of heads of probe agencies, detained at EC office

New Delhi, April 8

Accusing the NIA of resorting to excesses during its probe into the Bhupatinagar bomb blast case, West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress leaders today held a “dharna” outside the Election Commission office here, demanding that the watchdog rein in central probe agencies and provide a “level playing field” to all parties for the General Election.

Editorial: Battleground Bengal

The 10-member TMC team comprising sitting and former MPs first met EC officials and sought the removal of the chiefs of the NIA, Enforcement Directorate, CBI and Income Tax department so that the “BJP could no longer use these agencies to corner political rivals”.

Cong moves EC against PM over ‘Muslim League’ remarks

• The Congress has complained to the EC against PM Modi’s remarks targeting it and comparing its LS poll manifesto with that of Muslim League
• A delegation of Congress leaders met EC officials and raised several issues, including the use of pictures and large cut-outs of the PM in government buildings and colleges
• It complained Modi had said that Cong manifesto ‘attempted to divide the country and impose the pre-Independence ideology of Muslim League’

Sitting MPs Derek O’Brien, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Sagarika Ghosh, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale, Shantanu Sen and Nadimul Haque and former MPs Vivek Gupta, Sudip Raha and Arpita Ghosh were part of the delegation. The protesting TMC leaders, who said they would not lift the “dharna” till their demand was met, were removed forcibly by the Delhi Police within minutes and taken to the Parliament Street police station. Addressing the media, Rajya Sabha member Dola Sen said the sudden burst of activity by the NIA in the blast case, which occurred in 2022, was an alleged ploy to harass and arrest TMC workers before the poll. Sen said the two TMC functionaries arrested in the case on Saturday were picked up in the dead of night without informing the local police. She also accused NIA sleuths of molestation of women during the raid and said the NIA step was linked to a conspiracy hatched by BJP’s Jitendra Tiwari and the NIA SP.

The protesting Trinamool Congress members said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not treat the central investigating agencies as his “personal property”. “There should be a level playing field. Modi should not use these agencies as tools,” they said.

The TMC delegation members also urged the EC to allow the state government to erect shelters for people who lost their homes in the tornado that had hit parts of north Bengal on March 31.