Most parties don’t show money taken by them: Bhaichung

Bhaichung Bhutia, who is contesting from Siliguri in north Bengal, said, “In reality every party has got funds. Funds come to all parties and most of them don’t show it. It’s not only my party, funds come to all parties whether BJP, Congress, CPI-M, every party has gone through that in terms of money.” Bhutia’s comments come in the backdrop of the opposition gunning for chief minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee over a sting operation purportedly showing several topnotch party leaders including former union ministers, state ministers and MPs and MLAs, accepting bribes in return for favouring a fictitious company. 

“We have seen that in the past that 15-16 Congress candidates took money for raising questions in parliament, BJP was also involved... that is always there,” said Bhutia, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Darjeeling, losing out to BJP’s SS Ahluwalia. Both Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist were quick to take Bhutia’s comments as an admission of “Trinamool’s guilt”. “He is a big player but is yet to absorb Trinamool’s polity. That is why he has made the admissions. But then accepting donations after giving due receipt and accepting bribe are different things,” said CPI-M Darjeeling district secretary Jibesh Sarkar. “Trinamool is running the party only through bribe money. Naturally Bhutia has admitted that Trinamool takes bribe money and it is their policy,” Sarkar added. “We are seeing how over a dozen of their leaders have been caught in the sting operation. It’s time this party was uprooted from Bengal,” said Congress state general secretary O P Mishra in a statement.