Left asks Mamata to come clean on graft allegations

The Left Front Thursday asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to respond to allegations by a senior West Bengal IPS officer about "corrupt practices" when she was the railway minister.

"Serious allegations of corruption have been levelled by a senior and respected IPS officer from the state. We don't to want question her (Banerjee) integrity. But to keep that image intact the chief minister must come out with an explanation within 48 hours," Marxist leader Surjya Kanta Mishra told mediapersons here.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist leader was referring to a letter from an additional director general of the state police to the union home ministry.

The officer claimed that during his posting with the railways when Banerjee held the portfolio, he was "used" to "collect more bribe from a tainted senior railway official".

In the letter, routed through Director General of West Bengal Police Naparajita Mukherjee and Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee, the officer has claimed that he has "documentary evidence to show how the railway ministry in 2010 had let off a top officer despite substantial proof of corruption against him".

The Left leader said if Banerjee failed to give an explanation, the CPI-M would approach the prime minister, the railway minister and central agencies.

"The matter is not confined only to the state but concerns the whole country. If we do not get a reply from the chief minister, we will have to write to the prime minister, railway minister and other central agencies to probe and bring out the truth," added Mishra.