Masters of thieves, says CM

TT, March 16: Mamata Banerjee today called Opposition parties thieves but continued to remain silent on the contents of the Narada tapes.

" Era ekhon amader choritrohonon korchhe. Charity begins at home. Agey nijeder dikey takan. Boro boro choreder sardar. Choreder nater guru shob boshey achhe. Hajar hajar takar party fund... CPM, koti koti takar malik... BJP," the chief minister said at a rally in Nagrakata, Jalpaiguri.

A translation: "They are indulging in character assassination.... First look at yourselves. They are the masters of big thieves. They are all brains behind the thieves. The CPM has thousands and thousands in their party fund. The BJP owns crores and crores of rupees."

" Jo mujhse takrayega, choor choor ho jayega (anyone who takes me on will be decimated)," she added.

Trinamul sources said the pressure was mounting on Mamata and she would have to work out an effective strategy to counter the Narada setback. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today referred the matter to the Parliament ethics committee.

"It seems her (Mamata's) strategy is to play the victim card and simultaneously attack the Opposition," a Trinamul leader said.

The party today sent legal notices to Narada and seven news channels and newspapers, including The Telegraph. The notice mentions six times that the video was "manufactured" but does not say whether it was doctored or tampered.

A section of Trinamul leaders said the legal response was a strategy to buy time till the Assembly elections and give the party a chance to say the sting operation was a part of a larger conspiracy, which was countered.

They drew attention to the cases filed by Trinamul leaders to bolster their theory. "Once a case is filed, it can drag on for years. That is what is happening with a number of cases filed by our leaders," a Trinamul source said.

A Trinamul MLA, however, questioned the wisdom of taking the legal route.

"The Parliament ethics committee will begin a probe. If the matter reaches court, the video will be sent for a forensic examination. If the video is found to be genuine, what are we going to tell the people?" he said.

Several Trinamul MLAs and councillors queried the party's response to the Narada controversy, as Lok Sabha MPs Dinesh Trivedi, Sugata Bose and Moon Moon Sen are believed to have done yesterday.

"Every time there is a controversy, we say it is fabricated. How long can we do this?" asked a south Calcutta MLA.