Mamata's nephew to sue CPI-M leader for chit fund allegation

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee would sue senior CPI-M leader Gautam Deb for alleging that he has amassed fortune worth Rs.300 crore and was into the chit fund business, the Trinamool Congress said Monday.

A day after Deb made the claims at a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) rally by naming Banerjee's company Leaps and Bounds, the Trinamool termed the allegations as "slanderous and downright fictional". It said: "What the CPI-M and its former minister have done amounts to defaming an innocent person. They will hear from our lawyers soon."

Abhishek, the president of Trinamool Yuva, the party's youth wing, "will sue the CPI-M for defamation", said a statement posted on the party's website.

"The charges - that Mr Banerjee's company is involved in chit funds and has done business amounting to Rs.300 crore - are laughable and completely untrue. The CPI-M has not provided an iota of evidence," the statement said.

Saying that the company was "not at all into chit funds", the Trinamool extended an invitation to the CPI-M and its leaders to study its books "and try and trace wrong-doing amounting to even Rs.300, let alone Rs.300 crore".

The Trinamool said while it condemned such "muck-raking and mudslinging," the allegations have not come as a surprise.

"The CPI-M is in panic because it knows the new chit fund law, which the West Bengal government is committed to, and the investigation into the Saradha swindle will expose the role of senior CPI-M members and deeply embarrass them."

"Obviously, the Communists are trying to divert attention by resorting to such character assassination," it said.

Stressing that the Trinamool believed in the politics of issues, the statement said: "When we feel it appropriate, we attack the policies and ideas of our opponents. We do not resort to manufacturing allegations or seeking to implicate family members of politicians in partisan games."