‘When CBI Does Its job It’s Political Vendetta, When It Doesn’t A Caged Parrot’: Defence Minister Sitharaman

Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday (3 February) slammed opposition leaders who expressed solidarity with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The CM sat on a protest after the Kolkata police detained a team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials when they arrived at commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s residence in connection with Saradha Chit fund scam investigation, NDTV has reported.

Opposition leaders including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashvi Yadav, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal among others had expressed their solidarity with Mamata on Sunday (3 February) after she sat on a protest to ‘save the constitution’.

The Defence Minister asked the opposition whether the CBI should do its job or not. “The CBI has got to do its job or not? When CBI does its job, the opposition parties call it a political vendetta, when it doesn't, they call it a caged parrot. Let them make up their minds,” Sitharaman was quoted in the report as saying.

Sitharaman added that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will approach the Supreme Court against the West Bengal government for denying permission to conduct a rally by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

“The Trinamool Congress is worried about the growing popularity of the BJP in West Bengal and this state is now turning out to be a difficult place for BJP workers,” said Sitharaman.