BJP pulls up Mamata Banerjee over Arunima Sinha incident

New Delhi, Apr 14 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday criticized Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and challenged her 'administrative capabilities' over the incident concerning sportswoman Arunima Sinha, who lost her leg after being thrown out from a running train near Bareilly on Monday.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman blamed Banerjee for her alleged apathy in managing the affairs of the Indian Railways.

"This incident poses a question on Mamata Banerjee's railway administration capabilities. The efficiency with which, the railways are functioning, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) is functioning and the safety of women passengers are all coming to the fore again," said Sitharaman.

She also slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, since the incident took place at Bareilly and mentioned how the concerned authorities reached the spot six hours after the gory incident.

Commenting on the ongoing investigations of Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali, who is alleged to have stashed away over eight billion dollars in Swiss banks, Sitharaman noted that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) would question Amlendu Pandey, a Congress leader from Bihar.

She said the BJP has always maintained that Congress has been backing Hasan Ali Khan.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party has been repeatedly saying that very senior and active political functionaries have been protecting Hasan Ali. By bringing in this person from Bihar, who is Congress political functionary, to be interrogated by the ED, the suspicion that we have been saying all the while is that Hasan Ali has been given protection by senior political functionaries and probably getting underlined," added Sitharaman.

Responding to media reports, which had quoted corporate lobbyist Niira Radia as telling the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar may be controlling Balwa's real estate company DB Realty, and may have pursued the issue of spectrum and license for Swan Telecom, one of the beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum scam, Sitharaman said that BJP finds it irrelevant to comment on the matter.

"Only Niira Radia who has been in the thick of things at that time, probably knows a lot about Mr. Sharad Pawar and probably, in the reverse order Sharad Pawar knows lot more about Niira Radia. There is nothing more for us to say at this moment," she said. (ANI)