Kolkata 18 August : Just 10 days ago, an appeals court of the Calcutta High Court directed Enforcement Directorate (ED) to be an intervener in the PIL concerning the property and assets of 19 powerful Trinamool Congress leaders, including seven ministers currently serving in West Bengal, a counter-PIL was brought before the same court on Thursday regarding similar assets of seven leaders of the three principal opposition parties in West Bengal namely the BJP, CPI-M and the Congress. The names of the 17 named in the PIL filed on Thursday include two current Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha members Sishir Adhikari as well as Dibyendu Adhikari who are the father and younger brother of the leader of the opposition in West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari who was also identified in the PIL.
Lok Sabha members of the BJP — Dilip Ghosh, Locket Chatterjee, Saumitra Khan as well as party lawmakers Mihir Goswami Monoj Kumar Oraon, Agnimitra Paul are identified in the PIL.
Other BJP leaders mentioned in PIL include the party’s spokesman Samik Bhattachartya, Anupam Hajra, Shilvadra Dutta, Jitendra Tiwari and Rahul Sinha.
The CPI-M members from CPI-M mentioned in the PIL include the state secretary of the party in West Bengal and politburo member, Md Salim, and former legislator Tanmay Bhattacharya.
Senior Congress leader and former Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal assembly, Abdul Mannan is also identified in the PIL.
Bhattacharya said that the PIL was filed intentionally by a lawyer for the Trinamool Confederation of the Calcutta High Court to counter the previous PIL filed in which it included Trinamool Congress leaders and ministers.
CPI-M central committee member Sujan Chakraborty, CPI-M central committee member, said “it was clear that this was an PIL that was filed to counter the earlier PIL that was filed against ruling CPI-M party officials”.
“Let the law follow its own course.However, our leaders will not ask the court for any special relief , as three Ministers of the state government have sought,” he said.
His clear indication was to an appeal from three ministers of the state government, including the state urban development and municipal affairs minister, Kolkata mayor, Firhad Hakim, the state forest minister Jyotipriyo Mullick, and the state department of cooperation minister Firhad Arup Roy before the same division bench to reconsider the decision on the being included of ED as an official party to the PIL.
src/pgh
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