Coal mafia don in Mamata's Singapore delegation: Left Front

Alleging that a suspected coal mafia don was part of the entourage headed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that is currently camping in Singapore, the Left Front Thursday demanded that the details of the delegation be made public.

Led by Banerjee, state ministers, bureaucrats and a host of entrepreneurs are currently in the city nation hunting for investment.

Brandishing a newspaper photo of Banerjee's Tuesday visit to Singapore's Jurong Bird Park, Left Front chairman Biman Bose claimed one of the man seen behind the chief minister was a suspected coal mafia don.

"The man seen behind Banerjee is Krishnakant Kayal who is said to be a coal mafia don. We want to know who is the man clearly seen in the picture, what kind of industrialist is he? This government has to come clear on who are part of this delegation," he said.

Claiming that there was no information about the over 50 industrialists who are part of the delegation, Bose demanded their information be made public at the earliest.

Banerjee's foreign visit has come under fire from the opposition parties with the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left questioning the efficacy of the entire exercise asserting tax payers' money was being wasted.

The BJP which has been questioning the source of funding of the visit, claimed that Banerjee undertook the trip to escape the heat generated by the Central Bureau of Investigation's probe into the multi-crore-rupee Saradha chit fund scam.

"The CBI has reached Trinamool's door step which has set its leaders' hearts racing. Their leaders who benefitted from the scam have grown nervous and anxious. That is why the chief minister has gone on a foreign visit to escape the heat," said BJP national secretary S.N. Singh.