WB BJP to move court against Mamata's statements on paintings

Kolkata, Apr 13: The state BJP unit said it would move court against the statements made by West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on the proceeds of sale of her paintings.

"The chief minister is making different statement each day on the realisation accrued from the sale of her paintings. We will move the move the court seeking justice," state BJP president Rahul Sinha told reporters here.

Sinha alleged that one day she is saying Rs two crore was realised, and the next day the amount quoted Rs nine crore. [Saradha Scam: TMC gets CBI notice, Mamata's paintings under scanner]

"The people of the state are getting confused and befooled by these varied figures...Yesterday, the chief minister said that a single stroke of her brush could fetch Rs 10 lakh. I wonder whether any such an artist was ever born on earth," Sinha claimed.

The chief minister had said that her party would send loads of papers and documents to Delhi as CBI had asked it to furnish the accounts.

"The next day, we saw TMC leaders visiting the CGO complex here and submitting the documents. Where is the credibility?" he asked.

Referring to the pre-civic poll violence, he said, people were now "fearing" that they would not be able to cast their votes freely and peacefully. "BJP party workers are being attacked every time. What the CPI(M) did before, the Trinamool Congress is repeating it," he alleged.

Regarding deployment of central forces during the polls, he blamed Banerjee for agreeing to it at the last moment.

"From the very beginning, she had been maintaining that there was not need for central forces. But at the last moment, she expressed her consent. What kind of dichotomy is this," he claimed.

Sinha said that by "changing her stand", Banerjee showed to the people that she had no issue with central forces.

The BJP leader said he had talked to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in this regard and was assured that central forces would be made available.

He also took a dig at the chief minister's oft-repeated rhetoric 'hills are smiling, Junglemahal is also smiling' (that peace has returned to both in Darjeeling and LWE-hit Junglemahal areas).

Sinha said if that was so, then why is the state government not withdrawing some companies of central forces from these areas and deploying them for a few days during the polls.

PTI