April 17: Mamata Banerjee today came tantalisingly close to admitting that the Narada revelations warranted ejection of the candidates linked to the scandal and suggested that election-driven compulsions tied her hands.

"Nothing can be done now. I cannot change candidates after announcing their names. Had it been earlier, I would have thought about it," Mamata told an election rally in the Chowringhee Assembly seat in Calcutta today.

The statement that made Mamata look as if she was blinking came more than a month after the Narada controversy broke and a few hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi enacted in Calcutta how the money was tucked into kurta pockets.

"Now I'm waiting for the report of the investigation into the sting," Mamata added.

It wasn't clear which investigation or what action she had in mind but the statement marked a change from Trinamul's earlier stand about "doctored" tapes that, party sources conceded, seemed unable to contain the damage in poll season.

The chief minister stuck to the conspiracy theory even this evening as she addressed a rally at Muchipara in central Calcutta, saying the tapes had been telecast because "it was election time".

The Narada tapes, which are under multiple probes, purportedly show several Trinamul politicians accepting cash from a journalist posing as a representative of a fictitious company. The politicians include six MLAs seeking re-election and seven MPs.

Trinamul sources said this was the closest Mamata had come to conceding any possible substance to the footage.

"If this is not an admission, what is? We now have to see what she does and when, and based on which report," a party source said.

Trinamul circles were abuzz with speculation on the possible reasons behind Mamata's statement. "We've been trying to rubbish the charges but the issue hasn't died down," a party insider said.

"There are reports that the Narada tapes are costing us.... Didi is probably trying to minimise the damage by promising action."

Another Trinamul source, however, said Mamata knew well enough that punishing the Narada accused would be difficult.

"A senior minister wanted Didi to act but she said the party might break if action was taken. It was then decided to carry out an internal probe," he said.

At least three agencies have the Narada controversy under their scanner. The tapes' contents have been referred to the Lok Sabha ethics committee, headed by BJP veteran L.K. Advani, which has sent notices to five lower House MPs caught in the scandal. Another MP's images were released later.

Calcutta High Court has set up a three-member panel to collect the unedited footage from the news portal's chief editor in Delhi and hand it over to the court in connection with two petitions demanding a CBI probe.

On April 9, Trinamul secretary-general Partha Chatterjee announced the internal probe.

The Opposition reaction to Mamata's latest statement tonight suggested she wouldn't be spared even if she punished some of her party colleagues.

"CM trying to disown her tainted party leaders to save her own skin in Narada. Its too late for you and them to escape, Madam!" CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra tweeted.

"I want to know about the report she is waiting for... and what action she is contemplating," CPM politburo member Mohammed Salim said.

"And," he added, "if it emerges that these people were taking money at her behest, what will she do?"

The Narada tapes are threatening to become Trinamul's Achilles heel this election and have, unusually for Bengal, turned corruption into a key poll plank.

Trinamul spokesperson and MP Derek O'Brien had initially called the videos "doctored" while fellow MP Mukul Roy dubbed them "doctored and manufactured".

Since then, a handful of Trinamul MPs such as Dinesh Trivedi and Sugata Bose have spoken in party forums in favour of some action against the accused.

"Let's say if I were head of the party, I would have just said, 'You come out clean and tell us what it is. And till the time you are clear, you sit at home'," Trivedi was quoted as saying at a panel discussion hosted by industry body CII in Delhi. "If Mamata did that, she would've swept the elections."

Later, Saugata Roy, one of the MPs purportedly seen accepting cash, told a party rally that he felt "ashamed and saddened". But Mamata did not blink till today.