Kirti Azad's remarks on Mamata Banerjee are his personal views: BJP

BJP on Saturday said the statements made by its MP Kirti Azad on Mamata Banerjee were his personal views and the party's stand is clear that the West Bengal Chief Minister has been shielding 'tainted' leaders involved in 'usurping' the poor man's money in chit fund scam.

"The view expressed by Kirti Azad on Mamata is his personal. As far as BJP is concerned, Mamata was elected to help the poor but she is now trying to save all those tainted leaders accused of looting the poor in chit fund scam," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said. BJP MP and former cricketer Kirti Azad vouched for the Trinamool Congress supremo's honesty, saying it was unthinkable for him to doubt her credentials as he had known her for over two decades.

"I cannot think in the wildest of my dreams that Mamata di is dishonest. I have known her for more than two decades. I have family relations . She gives 'Bhai Phota' (a festival when sisters apply 'tilak' or 'teeka' on the forehead of brothers) to me," Azad had said. Azad, a Lok Sabha member, said that his late father former Bihar Chief Minister Bhagwat Jha Azad had very good personal relations with Banerjee. His comments have stoked a controversy as they come in the wake of many TMC leaders, including MPs, being arrested and questioned in the Saradha chit-fund scam being investigated by CBI. BJP is also trying to make inroads into West Bengal and seeking to emerge as an alternative to TMC in West Bengal in the next Assembly elections.