Trinamul national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that his nine-hour-forty-minute questioning by the CBI in connection with the recruitment scam yielded “a big zero” before adding that it was a “waste of time”.

“It yielded a big zero.... It was a waste of time for me and also for them,” said Abhishek, after his questioning on the 14th floor of Nizam Palace, where he turned up in the morning responding to the summons the central agency had sent him on Friday afternoon.

“They did not even give me 20 hours to respond to the summons.... I was in Bankura and it took me morethan five to six hours toreach Calcutta. I was in the middle of a pre-scheduled political programme, but I put a pause on it and rushed to the city to face the CBI. I have already filed an SLP in the Supreme Court and could have skipped the summons, but I came here to face them,” he told reporters after his questioning.

According to Abhishek, the summons to him in connection with comments of recruitment scam accused Kuntal Ghosh was part of a larger plan to derail Trinamul’s mega-outreach drive, Trinamuley Nabo Jowar (a new tide in Trinamul).

When reporters askedAbhishek about what he told the investigators about Kuntal, he said: “I said I don’t know him.”

“The BJP got scared with the turnout in Nabo Jowar rallies and used the CBI to summon me to ensure a pause in the programme. Let me tell you that I would resume it on Monday and 10 times more people would join it,” Abhishek said.

Several questions on what the investigators asked him during the interrogation were hurled at him during the hour-long interaction he had with the reporters on the Nizam Palace premises. But Abhishek said what transpired was between him and CBI sleuths and it should be confined to the four walls of that room.

“They rolled out the names of some people who were apparently agents in therecruitment racket, and asked me whether I knew them.... I can’t disclose those names. But I can tell you that 90per cent of them were from East Midnapore and Murshidabad. Now, let me ask you, who was looking after Murshidabad? Who was heading the party in East Mindapore?” Abhishek said, referring to Suvendu Adhikari, who was the Trinamul observer of several districts before joining the BJP ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls.

With this question, Abhishek made it clear that the central agencies — the CBI (which is investigating the recruitment scam) and the Enforcement Directorate (which is tracking the money trail) — should bring the leader ofthe Opposition in Bengal under the scanner of their probe in the school recruitment scam.

A significant part of the news conference revolved around Adhikari as Abhishek repeatedly asked why the agencies did not call Adhikari even once though his namegot dragged into “the Saradha and the Narada cases”.

“He was seen taking money in the Narada tapes.... Sudipta Sen (the kingpin of the Saradha scam) had accused Suvendu Adhikari, CPM’s Sujan Chakraborty and Congress’s Adhir Chowdhury of taking money from him in a letter. Has Adhikari even been questioned in that connection? Has the agency summoned the other two leaders?” asked Abhishek.

Throughout his mediainteraction, the Trinamul MP tried to establish that the central agencies have been partisan in their approach and have shied away from summoning “corrupt leaders” who have joined the BJP.

“Narendra Modi had famously said, na khaunga, na khane doonga (will not engage in corruption and won’t allow anyone either). Then howcan the BJP take someone like Suvendu Adhikari inthe party even after seeing him accepting money? How can they make Himanta Biswa Sarma the chief minister of Assam? How can Narayan Rane... be a minister in the Union cabinet?” asked Abhishek.

“The BJP is a washing machine and they are using the CBI and the ED as detergents.... But we are not scared,” he added.

During the news conference, Abhishek observed that the approach of the central agencies and a section ofthe judiciary bore hints that the rules were differentfor BJP leaders and thosefrom the Opposition, especially him. “A poor manwas mowed down by the convoy of a leader (Adhikari).... But nothing can be done against him, not even an FIR can be drawn up against the man. Is it fair?” asked Abhishek.

Abhishek criticised Modi and his policies and Union home minister Amit Shah and his son Jay Shah (referring to the rise in his assets) during the news conference.

From questioning the rationale behind withdrawing the Rs 2,000-note to mocking the BJP for losing the Karnataka polls, he broachedseveral issues relevant tonational politics while replying to questions in theunusually long news conference. He spoke extensivelyon how the BJP-led Centrewas not releasing money under the 100-day work scheme, creating distress in rural Bengal.

Responding to Abhishek’s news conference, Adhikari said that the Trinamul leader got scared after the CBI questioning.

“This will not stop only with this nine-hour interrogation.... His Yatra would end in Tihar,” said the BJP leader. He, however, did notrespond to the charges that Abhishek levelled against him.