lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Jan 30, 2019 08:15 IST

Hours after BJP president Amit Shah alleged at a rally in Bengal’s East Midnapore district on Tuesday that Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee’s paintings were sold for millions and the money came from chit fund operators, the state’s ruling party served a legal notice to him.

“Shah has no right to insult our chief minister. He made the statement only to malign her. We have served a legal notice, saying he should prove it or else withdraw the statement in public,” Trinamool leader and deputy health minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said in the evening.

Banerjee has been painting for several years and her works were auctioned a few times. Trinamool leaders always maintained that this was a novel way of raising funds for the party. Not only BJP, Left parties too have earlier questioned the identity of the buyers.

“It is public knowledge that while probing the Saradha chit fund scam, CBI found evidence of this money being used to buy Banerjee’s paintings. Enforcement Directorate recently arrested Bengal’s most well-known movie producer (Srikant Mohta) who used chit fund money to buy her paintings. Let TMC leaders shout as loudly as they can. People know the truth,” said BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha who accompanied Shah to the rally on Tuesday.