UNION HOME Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda have sought a detailed report from the West Bengal BJP on remarks by its vice-president Dilip Ghosh against the CBI, sources in the party said.
The central BJP leadership has sought details of a video that showed Ghosh purportedly speaking against the CBI and the Hindi and English translation of his speech.
Sources said Shah and Nadda asked the state unit of the party to send separate reports to them.
Ghosh was cautioned by the party on earlier occasions for speaking against the new state leadership under Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar. The central leadership, too, censured Ghosh for his remarks.
In an embarrassment to the BJP, Ghosh on Sunday alleged that some ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders had “setting with CBI officers” that prompted the Union Finance Ministry to send Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials to probe corruption cases in West Bengal. Ghosh was of the view that the CBI had been getting “compromised” over the years, as a section of its officers were being purchased but the ED on the other hand was a “dog that bites which cannot be tamed.”
On Monday, Ghosh stood by his remarks on the CBI and once again questioned the credibility of the central investigation agency. “I have expressed my views on Sunday and I stand by it today. The court had ordered a CBI probe (in post-poll violence in the state). How many arrests have been made? How many FIRs have been filed? We believe in the CBI. I don’t care who runs it. We expect justice from it but we have not got it so far. That’s why when I was the state BJP president, I organised an agitation outside the CBI office. I have only made my views clear. The ED has done its job more efficiently and we have full faith in it.”
However, there was no immediate reaction from the BJP over the latest development. TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen, on the other hand, said the TMC stands vindicated by Ghosh’s remarks. “Ghosh has said that CBI could not file FIRs. But we have also seen that the CBI did not question the person named in the FIR (Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari for his alleged involvement in Narada sting operation case) who was seen holding a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. We have been questioning the credibility and impartiality of the CBI from the very beginning. Today, Dilip Ghosh has vindicated our stand,” said Sen.