West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ended her sit-in here on Tuesday evening, almost 48 hours after she began it against a CBI attempt to search the residence of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in chit fund scam cases.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who arrived at the protest venue in the evening, urged Ms. Banerjee to end her protest, citing the Supreme Court order.
Mr. Naidu said leaders of Opposition parties had urged Ms. Banerjee to call off her protest. He said that both of them spoke to at least eight Opposition leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP and Sharad Pawar of the NCP.
“On behalf of 23 political parties, we urge her to withdraw her dharna. Everyone feels that Madam (Ms. Banerjee) should end it. We will take up the issue again in Delhi,” Mr. Naidu said. Ms. Banerjee agreed to the request, but said all parties should come together to “oust this Modi government”.
“We consulted all the leaders and they said this dharna is a victory for the people, victory of the country, victory for democracy and victory of Constitution. So let us finish it because the court gave a positive judgment,”Ms. Banerjee said. Both Mr. Naidu and Ms. Banerjee announced that the protest on the same issue will continue in Delhi in the next week of February.
“Only [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi and [BJP president Amit] Shah are clean, we are all corrupt. Are we all corrupt,” Mr. Naidu asked. “I have never seen such a Prime Minister in the past. Even the Emergency was better than this.”
“This was a dharna to save India, save the Constitution, save the federal set-up and we held a protest under the banner of Save India… Though I started it, others also came in support. I cannot take a decision without consulting other political parties,” Ms. Banerjee said.
Earlier in the day, she welcomed the Supreme Court intervention restraining the CBI from taking any coercive steps against Mr. Kumar.
“It’s a moral victory for the people of the Bengal. It’s a moral victory for the people of the country,” she said.
Even as she withdrew her protest, Ms. Banerjee was furious over a communication from the Union Home Ministry asking the West Bengal government to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the Police Commissioner on the allegation that he joined the protests. She said Mr. Kumar never joined the dharna. “Have you seen him on the dais in the past three days,” she said.
Published - February 05, 2019 10:01 pm IST
