Mamata ready for independent enquiry on Saradha, says Trinamool

With the opposition turning the heat on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the multi-crore-rupee Saradha chit fund scam, the Trinamool Congress Tuesday hit the streets complaining of a "smear campaign" against its chief but said she was "ready for an independent enquiry".

Hundreds took part in a rally organised by the party's youth wing, All India Trinamool Yuva, and students' wing, Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad.

The protestors walked from College Square in the city's north to Esplanade in the city's central area.

Holding aloft flags and posters of the party symbol, the supporters slammed the recently levelled allegations of corruption against their chief.

A day back, Bharatiya Janata Party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi dubbed Banerjee a "corruption queen".

State Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has sought her resignation following allegations that the railways had entered into a joint venture with Saradha Tours and Travels when she headed the ministry.

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Gautam Deb has also questioned Banerjee's probity.

Trinamool's chief whip Derek O'Brien however asserted that Banerjee was "not for turning" and will keep battling those who accuse her of corruption.

"She will battle them, battle their toxic arguments, and win."

"Now there are new conspiracies and new conspirators in town... media barons have jumped from the tired, old Congress to the tired, not-so-old CPI(M) to the tiresome, not-quite-old BJP. They have found a new champion; Mamata Banerjee remains the perennial hate figure of course," he said.

O'Brien said Banerjee was "ready for an independent enquiry".

"Bring on the CBI, bring on the BJP hate army, bring on the quick-change and hypocritical media barons. The lady is not for turning," he said, picking up a phrase used by then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1980.