‘BJP, Centre have nothing to do with CBI probe’

Kolkata, Jan 4 (IANS) BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday said the party had nothing to do with the ongoing CBI probe here.

Vijayvargiya's statement came as Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government of "vendetta politics" over arrest of its Parliament members.

Trinamool MP and Leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay was on Tuesday arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation after hours of grilling over the Rose Valley chit fund scam.

Another Trinamool MP, Tapas Paul, has already been under arrest in connection with the scam.

"The CBI investigation was ordered as early as 2014. The agency sent notice to the two leaders in 2015. They were interrogated and later arrested as they failed to provide satisfactory reply to the inquiry. I want to know who from the BJP or the Prime Minister's Office is involved in this," Vijayvargiya told the media here.

"It is extremely shameful for a Chief Minister to accuse the Centre of political vengeance for opposing the demonetisation. The chit fund probe is going on for many years, whereas the 'notebandi' happened just a couple of months back."

The BJP leader said Congress's comments over Trinamool MPs' arrest proved the party's "political immaturity".

"Before the election in West Bengal, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi demanded strict CBI investigation on all chit fund scams. State leader Abdul Mannan also appealed for the punishment of the offenders in the scams."

"The same leaders are now backing Trinamool's accusations when the full fledged investigation is going on. This shows the political immaturity of Gandhi and his party," he said.