Officials of the Income Tax department on May 3 conducted searches at multiple premises, including the residence of Public Accounts Committee chairman and Raiganj MLA Krishna Kalyani.
The raids started in the morning and continued for almost 12 hours till late in the evening. Along with the search at Mr. Kalyani’s house at Raiganj in Uttar Dinajpur district, raids were conducted at premises linked to his business partner in Malda district. At one point during the search, the MLA came out of his balcony and waved to mediapersons outside his house.
Mr. Kalyani contested the 2021 Assembly poll on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket. In October 2021, he joined the Trinamool Congress.
He was appointed chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (BJP) in July 2022 after Mukul Roy resigned from the post on health grounds. Mukul Roy was also elected to the State Assembly on a BJP ticket and later defected to the Trinamool Congress.
BJP legislatures including Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had challenged Mr. Kalyani’s appointment as the PAC chairman, a post usually reserved for an Opposition member. Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly Biman Banerjee had ruled that Mr. Kalyani was a BJP legislator.
Raids predicted
During the day, when the Trinamool leaders raised questions on the IT raids on the Raiganj MLA’s residence, West Bengal BJP spokespersons said the Trinamool should not be bothered as Mr. Kalyani was a BJP MLA.
State’s Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said that there had been some dispute between the BJP and Mr. Kalyani but it was clear that the agencies were working at the behest of the Central government. One leader from here (Suvendu Adhikari) had such good relations with agencies that he was predicting the raids, said the Minister.
A few weeks back, Mr. Adhikari on the floor of the Assembly had dared Mr. Kalyani to state as to which party he was associated with. BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said that since the Trinamool believed that Mr. Kalyani was a BJP MLA, they should not be interested in the raid conducted on his house.
“The Trinamool achieved same side goal by defending Krishna Kalyani,” the spokesperson said.
Seven MLAs, who won the last Assembly poll on a BJP ticket, have joined the Trinamool Congress but not resigned as members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
“The Trinamool achieved same side goal by defending Krishna Kalyani”Samik Bhattacharya BJP spokesperson
