Fresh rounds of political mud-slinging has erupted after the BJP's central leadership in New Delhi decided to send its five-member fact finding team to West Bengal to conduct an independent probe into the rape of a minor girl, who died later, at Hanskhali in Nadia district.

The five-member probe team will visit the crime spot, prepare a detailed report and submit the same to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and part's national president J.P. Nadda.

Soon after the BJP's decision, Trinamool Congress national general secretary and the party spokesman Kunal Ghosh gave a strongly- worded statement where he questioned the motive behind sending the fact-finding team when Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is all set to take up the probe in the case following an order of the division bench of the Calcutta High Court.

"There can be multiple reasons behind the decision to send the party's own fact-finding team to the state at this juncture. There is a high possibility that the head of team is coming to influence the CBI probe in the matter so that the central probe agency frames charges as per convenience of the BJP leadership and not as per findings based on evidence. The intention of sending the fact-finding team is sheer politics over the tragic end of a girl, which has already been condemned by all of us," Ghosh told mediapersons.

He also asked as to why the saffron leadership did not form and send similar- finding team when similar minor rapes happened in BJP-ruled states like that in Unnao and Hathras.

However, his allegations were rubbished by BJP legislator from West Bengal, Srirupa Mitra Chowdhury, who is one of the five members of the fact-finding team. According to her, when a lady chief minister of a state terms the minor rape as a minor incident and tries to give a love-angle twist to the issue, it is clear that no woman in the state is safe. "We want the Union government to take immediate steps to ensure the safety and security of the women in the state," she said.

The other four members of the team are– vice president and party MP Rekha Verma, actress Kushboo Sundar, Uttar Pradesh's woman and child development minister Baby Rani Maurya and BJP legislator from Tamil Nadu Vanathi Srinivasan. (AS/IANS)

Keywords: BJP, Bengal, West Bengal, Trinamool Congress, Political mudslinging, Fact-finding team, Politics.