Calcutta, Sept. 12: The CPM today demanded that the CBI summon chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the Saradha case and ask her to furnish details about the extent to which a section of ministers and Trinamul leaders were allegedly involved in the scam.

Addressing a news conference, Citu state president Shyamal Chakraborty said: “Mamata Banerjee used to be satotar prateek (symbol of honesty). Now, people are saying she has become Saradhar prateek (symbol of Saradha). Lakhs of people were cheated by the Saradha Group. Some Trinamul leaders and ministers had close links with the Saradha owner (Sudipta Sen). They benefited from the association.”

“The time has come for the chief minister to be summoned by the CBI. She should appear before the CBI and state who the real culprits are,” Chakraborty added.

The veteran trade union leader said Citu and DYFI workers would organise a rally on Monday. The procession, from Subodh Mullick Square to Esplanade, will be held to protest the Saradha scam and the alleged involvement of a section of politicians.

“More such rallies will be organised after Puja. There will be no let-up in our agitation on Saradha,” Chakraborty said.

According to the CPM leadership, the chief minister should be questioned along with Trinamul MPs Mukul Roy and Kunal Ghosh and Saradha chief Sen. Ghosh, who has been arrested and suspended from Trinamul, recently demanded that the CBI make Mamata sit face to face with him and Sen and question her.

“There was a time the people of Bengal believed Mamata Banerjee was a street fighter. Nobody questioned her integrity. But people have been deceived in the past three years. She has lost the confidence of the people because of her party’s links with the Saradha Group. She has the responsibility of answering the electorate,” said Sujan Chakraborty, the CPM’s South 24-Parganas secretary.

“Ma-Mati-Manush, her favourite slogan, has become Mamata-Mukul-Madan after the Saradha episode,” he added.

Sujan demanded to know how much property the chief minister’s family owned now.

“I want to know from the chief minister how much property her family has amassed in the three years she has been in power. What was the worth of her family’s property in 2011 and now? She should come up with facts. We have come to know that many of her relatives prospered after Saradha began operating in Bengal. People want to know. Accept our challenge and come clean on this,” Sujan added.

However, the CPM leadership avoided a direct reply when asked whether the party was demanding the resignation of the chief minister in the wake of the Saradha scandal.

“It’s not a question of demanding her resignation. Will she step down just because we are asking her to do so? We believe the people have gradually begun to see through her antics, that she has become a disaster for the state. So the time will come when the people will call for her resignation,” Sujan said.

Trinamul secretary-general Partha Chatterjee dubbed the CPM’s claims and allegations the “ranting of mad men”.