No queries from Dhaka on Saradha fund issue

India has not received any report from its mission in Bangladesh on a Trinamool Congress lawmaker's alleged involvement in funneling the Saradha chit fund money to Jamaat-e-Islami, said Syed Akbaruddin, India's official spokesperson, in a press briefing yesterday.

Replying to a query about any official communiqué or engagement from Bangladesh about this, Akbaruddin categorically said: "We have not received any report on this matter from our mission in Bangladesh."

Following an Indian Bangla daily's claim that Dhaka communicated with New Delhi over funneling of Saradha scam money to Jamaat, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan, too, said he was “unaware” of any such development.

Indian Bangla daily Anandabazar Patrika on Friday said crores of money from Saradha chit fund was invested to spark violence in Bangladesh. Citing “intelligence reports of Bangladesh”, the newspaper said the money made its way to Jamaat-e-Islami in 2012-13 through Ahmed Hassan Imran, a Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal's ruling TMC.

In a new development, Babul Supriyo, a BJP MP from Asansol, on Sunday alleged that the charges against Imran playing a leading role in receiving funds from Bangladesh-based political party Jamaat-e-Islami to help TMC win the 2011 Assembly polls, were "not merely allegations, but are facts", according to a report published yesterday in leading Indian daily Hindustan Times.

The report also says all opposition parties in West Bengal -- the Left, BJP and the Congress-- upped the demand for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's resignation over the Saradha chit fund scam.

The CPI(M) demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should interrogate Mamata and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in connection with the scams, claims the report.

Suryakanta Mishra, leader of the opposition in the Bengal assembly and CPI(M) politburo member, also passed the blame on the BJP for the chit fund scams, alleging that Jaitley's tough stand on the scams in his first budget speech as finance minister stood in stark contrast with his decision to "have lunch on the same day with Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP KD Singh".

"The CBI should interrogate what relation Jaitley shares with Singh,” Mishra was quoted as saying.

State Congress leaders also reiterated their demand that Mamata step down till she was cleared of charges by the CBI. They also threatened to move the Supreme Court against Trinamool Congress' protest demonstrations alleging it was a contempt of court, claims the report.

According to the report, the TMC decided to hold more counter rallies across the state over the next three days to give a " fitting reply to those who are trying to malign the government " over the Saradha scam.

“The opposition parties are hurling allegations against us. We have decided to give them an appropriate answer and for that we would hold rallies from September 19 to 22,” Trinamool General Secretary Mukul Roy was quoted as saying in the HT report.

Mamata keen to visit Bangladesh

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had skipped her visit to Bangladesh in September 2011 with then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, yesterday showed her keen interest to visit Bangladesh.

Mamata expressed her interest when Abida Islam, the outgoing Bangladeshi deputy high commissioner to India, extended an invitation of Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali to her in a meeting at the state secretariat "Nabanno".

The meeting took place amid speculations that there may be tension between the two about Indian media reports that a Trinamool Congress leader was allegedly involved in funneling Saradha chit fund money to Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh.

It was purely a courtesy call as she was returning to Bangladesh on completion of her diplomatic assignment in Kolkata, Abida told diplomatic correspondent of The Daily Star over the phone.

"Media reports on Saradha scams simply did not come out in our discussion," she added.

During the half-an-hour meeting, Mamata informed Abida that her state government decided to award noted singer Feroza Begum with the “Banga Bivushon Award” at a ceremony on September 22.