Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s plan to clear wage dues of nearly 21 lakh MGNREGA job card holders from the state coffers and use the plank of central deprivation against the Narendra Modi government in the Lok Sabha polls faced a challenge on Tuesday with the Enforcement Directorate conducting raids in at least four locations across the state to investigate alleged anomalies in the implementation of the central scheme.

The Trinamul dispensation, which plans to project the Centre’s decision on funds freeze as the BJP’s anti-Bengal and anti-poor stance, did not waste any time in branding the raids — at the homes of government officials to probe embezzlement of funds by means such as fake job cards — as another example of vendetta politics.

As soon as the ED raids began on Tuesday morning, Trinamul activated its senior leaders to accuse the BJP of unleashing the central agency on the instruction of Bengal BJP leaders, particularly leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.

Adhikari had met senior BJP leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah, in New Delhi on Monday and later claimed that he had done what was necessary to ensure that the “screws are tightened” on the ruling party in Bengal.

“Just understand the chronology of today’s ED raids. The central agency was activated a day after Suvendu Adhikari met many (BJP) leaders in Delhi, including the (Union) home minister and finance minister. He (Adhikari) boasted, without giving details, that Bengal will see the outcome (of his meetings) soon. It is enough to prove again that the BJP unleashes the ED to fulfil its political agenda,” state industries minister Sashi Panja said.

Trinamul also fielded finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharyya to attack the BJP on the raids.

Trinamul has been organising several programmes over the last few months to ensure the release of money, including the pending wages of about 21 lakh people. Mamata had also directly urged Modi to release the funds that have been frozen since January 2023.

Exasperated by the never-ending wait, Mamata had on February 3 announced that her government would pay the pending wages of 21 lakh job card holders on February 21 from the state coffers.

Trinamul leaders believe that Mamata’s decision to clear the wage backlog without waiting for the Centre was a deft political move ahead of the Lok Sabha polls as it lent credence to the narrative of central deprivation that the party wants to use as the main poll plank against the Modi government.

The Trinamul top brass has already asked the district units to launch a massive campaign to take Mamata’s February 3 announcement to every village as part of a larger plan to showcase the Modi regime as “anti-Bengal”.

A senior Trinamul leader said by unleashing the ED, the BJP made it clear Mamata’s decision took them by surprise. “The truth is that the BJP has lost its mind after our chief minister’s announcement... The BJP leaders in Bengal started running here and there after they realised that their plan to create havoc in rural Bengal by imposing an economic embargo had gone awry and they set the ED on us,” said Panja, the Trinamul MLA from Shyampukur.

Several BJP insiders had said in private over the last few months that the party hoped to reap political dividends in rural Bengal as the funds freeze had started affecting the rural economy — characterised by joblessness — and they could hold Trinamul responsible for the situation.

Mamata’s decision to clear the dues, a source in the saffron camp said, is a jolt to that “game plan”.

“As the people of Bengal are not just happy but are also thanking Mamatadi for her decision, the BJP wants to change the narrative and hence the increased activity of central agencies,” Panja added.

A Trinamul leader close to Mamata said on Tuesday that the party would intensify the ongoing sit-in and expose how the Modi government is “rattled by Didi’s decision”.

The BJP leaders, however, repeated their allegations of irregularity in the implementation of the rural job scheme in Bengal.

“They issued fake job cards and used so many tricks to defalcate funds.... The state government purchased a mango sapling for Rs 40 while it was available in the market at Rs 20. Similarly, they purchased a coconut tree for Rs 250, while the market price was Rs 40. If the ED investigates the scam properly, the government has to set up a temporary jail at the Brigade Parade Grounds or the Sahid Minar ground to accommodate the arrested persons,” Adhikari said on Tuesday.

On the use of the ED for political gains, he said: “I don’t know what Shashi Panja told you (about unleashing the ED). Your question is how was the ED involved in the case? It is similar to the PDS scam when the ED took over several pending police cases filed previously over alleged corruption in ration distribution. Government officials, panchayat functionaries and job card holders had lodged a few hundred cases regarding corruption and anomalies under the MGNREGA. As the state police did not complete probes in those cases, the ED took over such complaints under provisions of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering) Act,” the Nandigram MLA added.

“Now that the probe has begun, it will not be stopped,” he added.