Kolkata, June 22 (IANS) Former West Bengal minister and ex-Trinamool Congress treasurer Aroop Biswas has blamed the party leadership for keeping him in the dark over the use of party funds, in his response to a show-cause notice issued to him in connection with the freezing of party bank accounts, party leaders said on Monday.
The controversy began after Biswas, in his capacity as treasurer, wrote to a private bank requesting the freezing of three Trinamool Congress accounts amid a dispute over control of party funds following an internal conflict.
The Trinamool Congress, after the electoral defeat, had announced an organisational reshuffle on June 5 and announced that former party MP Subhasish Chakraborty had replaced Aroop Biswas as the new treasurer. However, in the letter to the bank, which came to light recently, Aroop claimed that he is still the party’s treasurer.
The Trinamool Congress has multiple accounts in the Central Plaza branch of a private bank in Kolkata. Based on his official letter, transactions in those accounts were temporarily suspended. After this, there was a huge uproar within the party, which took immediate action and issued a show-cause notice to the former minister.
In the three-page letter that Aroop Biswas sent in response to the show cause, he raised several sensational claims about the history of the party’s internal transactions. He claimed that although he was performing his duties as the party’s treasurer in bookkeeping, in reality, all financial transactions were conducted by keeping him completely in the dark.
In the letter, written by himself, the former Tollygunge MLA clarified that although he was made to sign several cheques for various needs of the party, he was never informed about where that huge amount of money was used. Despite being the treasurer, he does not have any clear information or proof about who withdrew the money and where it was spent.
Biswas further alleged serious irregularities in certain transactions, including those involving cheques signed by him. Amid speculation over possible defections, Biswas clarified in his letter that he remains with the Trinamool Congress and supports party supremo Mamata Banerjee.
According to party sources, around Rs 534 crore is currently held in Trinamool Congress bank accounts. Following the emergence of a rebel bloc within the party in the Assembly, led by Ritabrata Banerjee, attempts were reportedly made to assert legal claims over these funds.
Fearing that the new bloc could take control of this fund, party supremo Mamata Banerjee allegedly instructed Aroop Biswas to temporarily transfer the entire money to another account not belonging to the party.
Sources said that the camp of rebel Trinamool MLAs, upon learning of the matter, allegedly put a lot of pressure on Aroop Biswas and was given a stern message to immediately write to the bank and officially request to stop all transactions in the account. In effect, the former state minister sent the letter to freeze the account to protect the party’s deposited money.
Amid the controversy, police froze three Trinamool Congress bank accounts containing about Rs 440 crore.
Responding to the developments, Trinamool MLA Kunal Ghosh said the party has communicated with Biswas and termed the issue an internal matter.
–IANS
sch/skp
