Saradha scam: Voices of dissent grow louder in TMC

State minister, party MP claims state govt was alerted much before crisis broke out

As West Bengal heads for Panchayat elections next month, voices of dissent in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over the Saradha scam seem to be growing louder.

A section of party leaders is now questioning the state government’s inaction in this regard despite raising several alerts. The latest to join the fray is one of the ministers of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet, Sadhan Pande.

Contesting Mamata Banerjee’s claim that the state was not aware about the financial irregularities by deposit-taking companies until Saradha went bust last month, Consumer Affairs Minister Pande said, “I had alerted both the state and Centre one and a half years back. But hardly any action was taken. Not only that, 150 officers of my department were sent to get training from the Reserve Bank of India so that they could work to create awareness over the issues. But those officers were not used by the state government.”

On if the top leadership stopped him from launching the awareness programme, Pande said, “I cannot share so much about the government’s functioning. But everything was surely not in my hand.”

The minister claimed he had also brought the matter to the Centre’s notice, writing letters to the Minister of State for Corporate Affairs, Sachin Pilot.

Banerjee is likely to convene a meeting later this month to chalk out a Panchayat election plan. The chief minister may face many such uncomfortable questions on this from a section of party leaders.

Senior TMC leader Somen Mitra, too, had claimed he had in 2011 written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the mushrooming chit fund industry across the state and had raised the matter with the corporate affairs ministry. Mitra told Business Standard he had “informed” Banerjee about this “over telephone” then. “My job was to alert the authorities. I did my job.”

Though Mitra has been cautious enough not to make any adverse comment against the top leadership, rebellious voices have been quite vocal on the party platform.

TMC members of Parliament (MPs) from East Medinipur and father-son duo of Shishir and Subhendu Adhikari have raised questions about party MP Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose’s alleged involvement in the Saradha affair.

Party insiders said a fear of a possible fallout of the scam in the Panchayat polls is prompting the leaders to go public. “It is rural people who have been cheated. It is the local representatives who will have face all these uncomfortable questions. It will be extremely difficult to fight the election when people have a perception about the party’s link to the scam,” said a senior TMC leader.