The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Friday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of acting as Saradha group's "unofficial brand ambassador" by concealing facts and diverting attention from the chit fund mess in order to avoid a CBI inquiry.
"She is concealing more than what she is revealing," CPI-M leader Mohammad Salim said here.
Banerjee was trying to divert attention from the main issue, Salim said a day after Banerjee displayed some newspaper photographs at a public rally purportedly showing former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Salim with "chit fund operators".
"When it was required that all the properties be attached and confiscated, she gave the excuse that there were no laws to do so... Were you waiting for the bill to pass or were you giving them time to wrap up?" said Salim at a press conference here.
"Expectation from the chief minister is not just show and wave a bunch of newspapers or publicise some already published newspapers, but we expect that chief minster should take some action and arrest all the gulty irrespective of their political affiliations," he said.
"The question at this juncture of time it is not important which photograph carries whose photo, the question is are all those who have run away with peoples hard earned money," said Salim.
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Salim alleged that Banerjee had earlier given exclusive interviews to chit fund funded television channels, and ordered that newspapers brought out by such companies instead of the dailies with larger circulations be kept at the state-run libraries.
"She promoted these channels and newspapers. Her partymen headed the Saradha's media group. if (Trinamool MP and actress) Shatabdi Roy was the official brand ambassador of the company, Banerjee was the unofficial brand ambassador."
Salim said that Mamata wanted to avoid a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry at any cost and "her intention was to show to the high court that she has been doing a very good work" in this case.