The sombre note struck by the Supreme Court on Tuesday in directing Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to cooperate with the CBI in its probe into the Saradha chit-fund scam did not prevent the stand-off between the Centre and the West Bengal government from evolving into a full-blown confrontation.

Although State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ended her three-day ‘Save India Satyagraha’ in Kolkata, she pledged to take her fight against the Centre’s “assault on federalism and misuse of central investigating agencies to target political opponents” to Delhi.

While Union Minister Smriti Irani dubbed the Supreme Court order directing Kolkata’s top cop to cooperate with the CBI as “egg on Mamata’s face”, the West Bengal CM termed it as a “moral victory” for herself.

The apex court, while asking the Kolkata police chief to cooperate with the CBI, simultaneously restrained the central investigating agency from taking any coercive steps against him, including arrest.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said Rajeev Kumar will appear before the CBI for investigation at Shillong in Meghalaya. The apex court fixed February 20 as the next date of hearing on the CBI’s allegations that Rajeev Kumar was tampering with electronic evidence and that the SIT headed by him to probe the chit-fund scams handed over doctored material.

Pandemonium in both Houses

Meanwhile, there was pandemonium in both Houses of Parliament, with the Rajya Sabha getting adjourned for the whole day as Opposition parties accused the BJP of misusing central investigating agencies to target political opponents.

During the day, Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Save India’ street protest galvanised more allies. While Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Yadav and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu joined her in Kolkata, others such as Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal publicly supported her.

“The whole country knows how Amit Shah and Narendra Modi are running the CBI. We have done nothing wrong. The Kolkata Police Commissioner has not joined this dharna although this is not a political protest...it is a satyagraha to save India,” said Mamata Banerjee while addressing a joint press conference with Chandrababu Naidu.

“We run State governments and the BJP runs the Centre. We’re both sovereign authorities. Law and order is a State subject. Nobody can dictate terms to us,” said Naidu.

Meanwhile, the BJP focussed on characterising the Opposition’s coming together over the issue as an alliance of the corrupt, with Union Minister Arun Jaitley dashing off a blog from the US, snappily titled “The Kleptocrat’s Club”.

“Mamata Banerjee’s latest acrobatics are the best evidence of the kind of governance India’s Opposition can provide,” Jaitley wrote, arguing that the upcoming general elections are a contest between “Modi and anarchy”.

 

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