My brother, his wife threatened and asked to join BJP, claims Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party had tried to intimidate her brother and sister-in-law into joining the saffron party ahead of the 2021 assembly polls but failed, and is now using central agencies to target her family.

She lashed out at the BJP and Leader of Opposition in West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, for “threatening” Trinamool Congress leaders with arrests by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.

“My brother and my sister-in-law were threatened and asked to join the BJP. But they didn't give in to the pressure tactics,” she said in the assembly.

Banerjee's comment comes in the backdrop of the Enforcement Directorate seizing Rs 1.4 crore in cash from the premises of a Kolkata-based company and the agency claiming that it has identified a person who was “handling illegal cash of a minister” allegedly generated from coal smuggling.

The action, the ED said, was undertaken based on a “specific” intelligence input that a “highly influential political person” was attempting to launder the proceeds of crime originating from coal smuggling through his “close confidante” Manjit Singh Grewal alias Jitti Bhai.

Since then, Adhikari has been tweeting pictures of Manjit with family members of Banerjee.

The feisty TMC boss on Monday flashed pictures of Adhikari with Manjit and asked him to clarify his position.

“The BJP thinks it can do anything it wants just because it has the ED and CBI as its allies. But it doesn't know that no everyone can be terrorised using the central agencies,” she said.

Without naming anyone, Banerjee hinted how Suvendu Adhikari had skipped the swearing-in ceremony of Union ministers, including his father Sisir Adhikari, in 2009, as a mark of protest over not being inducted in the list of TMC ministers in the Congress-led UPA-2 ministry.

“The person levelling allegations against us skipped the swearing-in ceremony of the new ministry in 2009 as his father was inducted, and he did not find a berth,” she said.

While reacting to Banerjee's allegations, Adhikari said it reflects panic in the TMC camp.

“It is a reflection of panic in the TMC camp. I would request everyone please wait for some time. The truth will be out soon. The ED and CBI will find out the truth, and the culprits will be behind bars,” he said.