To Mamata's PM distinction, BJP leader says no one needs her validation

On Tuesday, Ami Malviya, who heads the IT cell of the BJP, said, “No one in the BJP, and most certainly the PM, needs any validation from Mamata Banerjee.”

A day after Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not behind the excess of central agencies, the BJP on Tuesday said it does not need validation from the Trinamool Congress supremo.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. (ANI File)

Banerjee on Monday said she did not believe Modi was 'misusing' the federal investigative agencies to harass and intimidate rivals - a charge often made by Opposition leaders, including some from her TMC. The Bengal CM, who was speaking on a resolution passed by her government against the 'excesses' of central agencies, said the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation were being “misused” by some within the Bharatiya Janata Party to further their own interests.

On Tuesday, Ami Malviya, who heads the IT cell of the BJP, said, “No one in the BJP, and most certainly the PM, needs any validation from Mamata Banerjee.”

He said Banerjee and her entire government and immediate family were under the radar of central agencies because of a court-mandated investigation. "She must account for the loot…"

Opposition parties, including Banerjee's TMC, have often attacked the government for using central investigative agencies to settle political scores.

The Bengal Assembly on Monday passed the resolution against excessed by central investigative agencies with 189 MLAs voting in favour and 69 (most of whom were BJP lawmakers) standing opposed.

The resolution was passed at a time when several members of the ruling Trinamool are being investigated by central agencies. Ex-minister Partha Chatterjee is among those. He was arrested for his role in an alleged teachers' recruitment scam in the state.

The party’s Birbhum district boss Anubrata Mondal is being probed in an alleged cattle smuggling case.