Narada tape: Ahead of 2nd phase of polls, Trinamool to initiate internal inquiry

More than three weeks after the sting operation conducted by Narada news portal came to light, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday said that it would initiate an internal inquiry.

"If anyone is found guilty the party will take appropriate action," Secretary General of TMC Partha Chatterjee said. Additionally, Chatterjee also said that the probe would also be widened to see if Opposition parties had a hand into in this.

"Ahmed Patel, Siddhartha Nath Singh and Sitaram Yechury's names are coming up. Trinamool Congress will find out which political party plotted this vendetta," he said.

Chatterjee's announcement on the probe comes ahead of the second part of the first phase of elections on Monday. The Narada video that showed TMC MPs, MLAs and ministers allegedly taking cash for extending favours to a fictitious company has become a major source of discomfort for the ruling party.

The video was released mid-March, just ahead of the elections, providing perfect ammunition to the Opposition parties. Corruption has become the most important issue this election. So much so that TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee recently appealed to the people at a rally not to withdraw their support to the party.

The timing of the release of the tapes shows this is nothing but political vendetta by our opponents, Chatterjee said.

Opinion polls suggest that TMC will retain power but is likely to get less seats. The ruling party's tally is expected to be between 178 and 156 seats as opposed to 184 in the last election.