
(Sanat Kr Sinha)
Calcutta, April 11: Bengal BJP minder Sidharth Nath Singh today questioned Mamata Banerjee's claim that none of her paintings sold for more than Rs 20 lakh.
Addressing a civic poll campaign rally in Burrabazar, where the chief minister held a public meeting yesterday and spoke about her paintings, Singh said: "Didi, you say none of your paintings sold for more than Rs 20 lakh. But (Saradha owner) Sudipta Sen claims that he bought one of your paintings for Rs 1.46 crore. Either you or he is lying. Now, the investigative agencies would have to knock at your door to find the truth."
"It hurts her when these questions are asked but nothing can be done," Singh added.
Trinamul MP Kunal Ghosh, who is in jail and has been suspended by the party, had claimed that Sen had bought one of Mamata's paintings for Rs 1.46 crore. The Saradha chief, however, has denied this.
The prices and buyers of Mamata's paintings are back in focus because of a mismatch between the chief minister's claims and the documents submitted by Trinamul to the Election Commission. At yesterday's rally, Mamata had said the total earnings from her paintings had been "Rs 2 crore something".
According to figures submitted to the Election Commission, the paintings had fetched Trinamul Rs 6.47 crore in 2011-12 and 2012-13. Mukul Roy was the official signatory to the audit documents submitted to the poll panel as Trinamul's then all-India general secretary. In the income tax returns documents submitted to the CBI by Trinamul, the figure of Rs 6.47 crore is apparently mentioned.
Referring to the mismatch, the BJP's Singh said: "This (the figure furnished by Mamata) is a lie. Where did the Rs 4.47 crore go?"
"This question has to be answered or the man sitting in Delhi, who won't allow anyone to steal, will ask this," he said, alluding to Narendra Modi.
Singh alleged that Mamata and Roy were trying to hoodwink people into believing that they were no longer on the same page.
"Nobody should forget that the BJP will not welcome any person who has robbed the poor and is stained.... That they are still together will be revealed one day. I don't know when and how," he said.