The BJP and the CPM have launched a bitter attack on chief minister Mamata Banerjee after she accused them of conspiring together to defame the Trinamul Congress and tarnish her image.

BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said Mamata was concerned about the possible arrest of her colleagues like Firhad Hakim because she was aware of their misdeeds.

“We are not astrologers. But her concern is genuine since she knows how neck deep her colleagues are in corruption.”

“What the CBI or the ED (Enforcement Directorate) will do is neither decided by the Bengal BJP headquarters nor the Delhi office of the party. They are autonomous institutions who now operate independently, unlike during the UPA regime when they were just caged parrots,” Bhattacharya said, reacting to Mamata’s allegations that the BJP was trying to weaken her government and party through the two central investigating agencies along with the Income Tax department.

The CPM said the chief minister should come out clean in front of people.

“An elected representative must come out clean in front of the people. Why is the chief minister afraid? Why cannot she take up the challenge to face the probe if she is clean?” CPM’s central committee member Sujan Chakraborty asked. He said Mamata should welcome any kind of probe if she had nothing to hide.

Then, he referred to a recent petition filed in Calcutta High Court demanding an investigation into increase in the assets of several opposition leaders, including himself, Md Salim and Tanmoy Bhattacharya.

Chakraborty challenged the chief minister to prove the allegations of corruption she used to level at former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

“In the eleven years of her rule, Mamata has set up multiple commissions to probe into alleged corruption during the Left regime, but has failed to produce a single proof,” he added.

On Monday, a PIL was filed at the high court seeking an investigation by a central agency into the wealth owned by Mamata’s relatives.

Reacting to Mamata’s severe criticism of the three-day-long training programme of the BJP, which started on Monday, Samik Bhattacharya said his party needed no lessons from people who owned illegal businesses and assets.

“The people are our guardians in democracy. They have their eyes on whatever is happening. We are here to undergo a training program, but none of us own illegal rice mills, vehicles and other assets. We will not take lessons from those who do,” Bhattacharya told journalists on the sidelines of the training programme.