Oppn Meet: WB CPI(M) Mocks Decision to Keep Chair Empty Over Abhishek’s Summons by ED – News18

The CPI(M) in West Bengal on Wednesday mocked the decision of the coordination committee of opposition bloc INDIA to keep a chair empty at its meeting since TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who was to represent the party, was summoned by the ED on the same day.

CPI(M) state secretary Mohd Salim said the “paduka” (footwear) of Abhishek Banerjee could have been kept, when told by reporters that Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut said a chair was kept empty at Wednesday’s coordination committee meeting in New Delhi to mark the absence of the TMC MP who was summoned by the ED.

“They could have kept the paduka. There is such an instance in Ramayana,” he said, referring to Lord Ram’s ‘padukas’ being kept on the throne by his younger brother Bharat when he went on a 14-year exile to the forests.

The coordination committee of the opposition bloc INDIA, of which the CPI(M) is a constituent, held its first meeting at the residence of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar in Delhi on Wednesday.

The CPI(M) has not yet nominated any member to the committee. A decision on who will represent the party will be taken at its Politburo meeting on September 16-17.

Banerjee went to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office here on Wednesday in response to a summons by the central agency in connection with its investigation into the alleged teaching jobs recruitment scam “for giving evidence”.

Salim told a press conference that a two-day state committee meeting till Wednesday discussed the panchayat polls in the state.

“We are doing self-evaluation of how we are working collectively, at the personal level, in public space and on taking corrective action over any flaw,” he said, adding that it is a nationwide drive.

Salim demanded that central agencies should act in a non-partisan manner against any one without seeing political colour or any other consideration.

“The CPI(M) will hold an agitation at the CGO complex here housing the ED and CBI offices on October 5,” he said.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)