BJP slams Mamata over Vyapam scam probe demand

Howrah/Kolkata: Countering West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's demand for a neutral agency probe into Madhya Pradesh's Vyapam scam, the BJP on Tuesday wondered if she would agree for such a probe into "irregularities and manslaughter" going on in her state.

Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Siddhartha Nath Singh asked if Banerjee would allow a CBI probe into alleged irregularities surrounding Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).

"The Madhya Pradesh government has already recommended a CBI probe while a high court monitored SIT is also probing the Vyapam scam," Singh told media persons on the sidelines of a party programme here.

"But we want to ask if Mamata ji will she agree for a CBI probe into the TET scam. Will she agree for a CBI or NIA probe into the mass killing going on in Birbhum district," he asked.

Singh was referring to frequent clashes between the activists of the Trinamool and BJP in Birbhum. While Banerjee has been denying any such clashes, the BJP has claimed several of its activists have been killed, injured and driven away from the district by "Trinamool goons".

Terming the series of deaths over the Vyapam scam as "cold-blooded murder", Banerjee on Tuesday said she was in favour of a probe by a" neutral and capable agency". On Monday too she had called for an independent agency probe asserting her Trinamool will raise the matter in parliament.

The Madhya Pardesh scam is related to irregularities in admission and recruitment conducted by the Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal (Vyapam). More than 40 people associated with the scam have lost their lives, including a Delhi-based TV journalist who was covering it.

(IANS)