Mamata Banerjee meets Sonia Gandhi as CID searches ex-Bengal CM, nephew Abhishek's Kolkata offices

TRinamool united states u.s. Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee on tues met Congress Parliamentary company chairperson Sonia indira nehru gandhi at the latter’s residence in Delhi, hours before the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) conducted simultaneous searches at her party’s central party office in Kolkata and at national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s Camac Street office.According to people familiar with the matter, the two leaders held an hour-long discussion on coordination among the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc constituents at Sonia Gandhi’s 10, Janpath, residence. This was the first meeting between the two leaders after a gap of five years. In 2021, Banerjee came to meet Gandhi after securing the third consecutive term in West Bengal. TMC’s Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien accompanied Banerjee to the meeting.Mamata Banerjee, who is battling defections both in the assembly and in Parliament, was in the Capital to attend the INDIA bloc meeting on Monday.According to a senior Congress leader, the meeting is unlikely to translate into a major political realignment in Bengal. “The meeting with Gandhi is an important political gesture from Mamata Banerjee’s side. But for all practical purposes, any realignment might be difficult.”Bengal Congress unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “Sonia Gandhi is a woman of stature...After all, this is a family that showed forgiveness towards Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins.”Also Read: How Mamata is losing her party, brick by brick, 28 years after she built it | ExplainedMeanwhile in West Bengal, two teams of CID held raids at the TMC’s central office at Kalighat and the office of Abhishek Banerjee on Camac Street as part of its probe into the alleged forged signatures of TMC MLAs in favour of Sobhabdeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition that triggered rebellion within the party.“CID teams have reached two premises in south Kolkata -- both linked to the TMC and Abhishek Banerjee. He was summoned thrice in connection with the signature forgery case but skipped...,” said an agency official.The officers told PTI that the raids were held to dredge out the original copy of TMC’s meeting resolution book and attendance sheet containing signatures of 70 MLAs present at the May 6 meeting held the party office adjacent to former chief minister’s residence.When CID team reached Kalighat, they were initially denied entry into the premises citing the absence of Mamata and Abhishek. Later, an altercation broke out between the team and former TMC Rajya Sabha member Subhasish Chakraborty. However, CID team called in central forces and entered the office to conduct the search. The team, which reached Abhishek’s office, also faced initial resistance from the employees, but managed to conduct searches.Two expelled TMC legislators – Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha – had lodged a complaint before Speaker Rathindra Bose that their signatures was forged on the May 19 letter, which the TMC had sent to the assembly secretariat nominating Sobhandeb as the LoP. The letter was signed by Abhishek Banerjee and bore the address of the TMC’s 30B Harish Chatterjee Street office in Kalighat.CID took over the probe from Kolkata Police on May 28, a day after the Hare Street police station registered a case based on a complaint from the assembly principal secretary with charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.