Now Trinamool drags CPI-M into coal scam

In the wake of the opposition's demand for a CBI probe into the multi-crore-rupee Saradha Group chit fund scandal, the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal Monday accused the CPI-M of involvement in the coal scam.

"Either the CPI-M has taken Congress in its pocket, or has itself gone into Congress's pocket. They are praising the CBI. Is it then so that they have dirtied their hands in the coal-gate scam," senior Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee said here.

"CPI-M is thinking that since it has dirtied its hands in the coal scam, it needs to save and be saved," said Chatterjee.

After Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tried to drag her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee into the chit fund scam, the veteran Marxist Sunday hit back alleging complicity of the Trinamool in the scam and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.

Chatterjee also questioned the independence of the country's premier investigating agency which has been receiving flak for "allowing" the Congress led United Progressive Alliance to meddle into the investigation on the coal scam.

Continuing his tirade against the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Chatterjee said: "If they believe so much in CBI and its independence, why did not they ask it to probe the mass murders that were carried out during its (Left Front) regime?"