The state of affairs of West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee keeps getting ludicrous. After asking for the removal of Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal through the backdoors, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo is now after Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta. A day after the Supreme Court accepted the petition to hear the case for imposition of President’s rule in Bengal, Mamata has come out with her outlandish demand.
A letter signed by senior TMC functionaries Derek O’Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Mahua Moitra was sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. The TMC lawmakers sought the removal of SG, citing the alleged meeting between BJP heavyweight leader Suvendu Adhikari and Tushar Mehta.
Even when both the Solicitor General and Suvendu Adhikari clarified they did not meet each other even as the BJP MLA visited the residence-cum-office of the SG, TMC manufactured a conspiracy that Adhikari was looking to clear his name from the high-profile Narada case.
“Suvendu Adhikari did come to my residence-cum-office yesterday at around 3.00 pm, unannounced. Since I was already in a pre-scheduled meeting in my chamber, my staff requested him to sit in the waiting room of my office building and offered him a cup of tea,” said the SG whilst adding, “When my meeting was over and thereafter my PPS informed me about his arrival, I requested my PPS to convey Mr Adhikari my inability to meet him and apologise as he had to wait. Mr Adhikari thanked my PPS and left without insisting to meet me. The question of my meeting with Mr Adhikari, therefore, did not arise.”
Meanwhile, TMC in its letter said, “Such a meeting between an accused in grave offences with the SG, who is advising such agencies by whom the said accused is being investigated, is in direct conflict of interest with the statutory duties of the SG of India.”
As reported by TFI yesterday, Supreme Court on Thursday (July 1) agreed to hear a plea seeking President Rule in the state of West Bengal, to be imposed by the Centre. A bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari issued notice to the Centre, West Bengal and Election Commission of India on the plea.
The fact that the SC admitted to hearing the plea has rattled the Mamata government and she is looking to muzzle any voice that contends against her. With the SC issuing a notice to the centre, it is expected that Tushar Mehta will be involved in some capacity or another in the hearing and thus Mamata is taking a pre-emptive guard.
Read More: Supreme Court has now started hearing the petition seeking to impose President’s rule in West Bengal
As reported by TFI, after two high profile judges recused themselves from hearing cases against the West Bengal government, Mamata Banerjee started to come after the jugular of judges that are seemingly not in her favour.
Reportedly, West Bengal Bar Council, on June 25, wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, seeking the removal of Justice Rajesh Bindal from the post of the Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court. It is pertinent to note that Ashok Kumar Deb, advocate and Chairman of Bar Council of West Bengal, who signed the six-page letter is a TMC MLA.
Justice Bindal had last month refused to grant interim bail to the TMC culprits in the Narada scam, which upset Mamata as she has been trying everything in the book to get her close aides out of the CBI’s net.
The pressure is mounting on the TMC supremo from all sides. And rather than battling it out, she has resorted to the tried and tested formula of muscling her way through any situation.