None in my party has taken money from chit funds: Mamata

Virtually giving a clean chit to the Trinamool Congress and its leaders on the chit fund scam, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday claimed nobody from her party has taken money from chit fund-aided companies, and hit out at a section of the media for showing Trinamool leaders as "thieves".

Against the backdrop of the CBI arresting Trinmaool leader Rajat Majumdar and grilling some party parliamentarians and leaders and media speculation that a national-level Trinamool leader and a state minister could be under the scanner of the investigative agency over the Saradha Group chit fund scandal, Banerjee alleged that some media houses were running a "campaign of lies" against her party.

"None in the Trinamool has taken any money from chit funds. Only a section of the media has taken such advantage. I can prove this by showing documents. I hold no grudge against you, but please don't lie," she said at a party programme here.

"Some newspapers are trying to depict my party leaders as thieves. But just because somebody calls somebody thief, does he become so? This has to be proved first," the Trinamool supremo said.

In an oblique attack on the BJP on the black money issue, Banerjee wondered how a party which runs an election campaign running into crores of rupees can free the country of black money.

She alleged that the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the BJP were in league during the 34 years of the Left Front rule.

"The CPI-M has always used the BJP to split the opposition votes, and win the elections," she said.