CBI-Kolkata police showdown: Opposition supports Mamata's 'dharna'

New Delhi Several Opposition parties on Monday extended support to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after an unprecedented tussle took place between the state police and CBI officials in Kolkata and hit out at the BJP for meddling with central agenciesAmidst high political drama in West Bengal Banerjee is sitting on her Save the Constitution dharna at Metro Channel in Kolkata since Sunday night in protest against the CBI move to arrest the Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar from his residence The team was not allowed and the police in turn detained the officials in a high voltage dramaKumar a 1989batch IPS officer of West Bengal cadre was heading a SIT on the Saradha and Rose Valley scams The CBI wanted the top officer to hand over the seizure list made during his probe sources saidReportedly the top cop was to be questioned regarding missing documents and files but was not responding to notices to appear before the agencyDelhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah as a dangerous partnership for the country said that the incident was dangerous and is against the Constitution and democracyWhatever central government did in West Bengal is very dangerous and is against the Constitution and democracy Every state has an elected government If the Prime Minister sends CBI and ED like this and try to scare the officers then this country will not be safe Kejriwal told ANIHe claimed that the BJP government was interested in targetting the Opposition through central agencies and contended that he had 33 cases registered against himFour years ago in Delhi a paramilitary force was sent by the Modi government and raided the ACB Kejriwal addedCongress president Rahul Gandhi also extended his support to the TMC supremo stating that the events in West Bengal were happening because of the unrelenting attack on Indias institutions by Prime Minister Modi and the BJPDMK chief MK Stalin called Banerjee and congratulated her for staging the dharna saying that the party will extend support in her fight against democracy In response the West Bengal Chief Minister thanked Stalin for his supportEchoing similar sentiments Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president Eshwar Khandre lambasted at the BJP for losing their mental stability and slammed them for giving different statements in an attempt to form a government in the stateBJP has lost its mental stability and that is the reason they are giving different statements about forming a government in Karnataka We ran the government for five years BJP is daydreaming Khandre told reporters in BengaluruFormer prime minister and Janata Dal Secular JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda said that the megashowdown in Kolkata between the police and the CBI was a misuse of the central investigative agency and termed the development as much worse than the Emergency periodIn a scathing attack Gowda asserted that the events which followed after the unprecedented development showed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi overacted by using the CBI which in turn will not help him for gaining political benefitsCBI went to arrest Kolkata Police Commissioner yesterday this is a misuse of CBI It is much worse than Emergency The way the events have unfolded in West Bengal since last night shows the Prime Minister has overacted by using the CBI This wont help him he told ANIIn a veiled jibe at the BJP BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra underlined that professionalism should be maintainedWe are a mature democracy and professionalism should be maintained Even in Odisha sudden action by CBI just before Panchayat elections and now the CBI action before General elections these moves smack of unprofessional conduct and are coloured with a political motive he told ANISimilarly the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha GJM too chided the BJP for misusing autonomous institutions relentlessly for their own political revenge The party said that the CBI became BJPs tool for vindictive politicsIn the past few months there has seen a lot of drama regarding the appointment of the CBI Chief and yesterday we saw how the CBI was used as a political tool in West Bengal The CBI today is left with zero credibility whereas it is sadly supposed to be an autonomous agency Autonomous institutions are being used relentlessly by the ruling BJP government for their own political revenge GJM president Binoy Tamang said in a statementIt is disheartening to see how central institutions are being hijacked only to discredit political opponents This step is against the federal structure of India and does not bode well for the Centrestate relationship he addedAccusing the BJP of mishandling institutions Tamang asserted What was the reason for suddenly waking up to the Saradha scam and going straight to grab a states DGP and that too weeks before polls It looks like the CBI is doing all their activities under political influence on a probe which is four years oldBacking Banerjee for her stand the GJM president said that the incident is a blatant misuse of CBI to intimidate the Opposition and settle political scores He condemned the move for what he called a mockery of democracy and federal structureMeanwhile the Darjeelingbased party took out a rally in the hill town in support of the West Bengal Chief MinisterCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get the latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever