TNN, Kolkata:Caught in the Saradha maelstrom, Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress is making drastic tactical changes. It’s bringing back some old faces from the cold, fielding new leaders and pulling back from the frontlines those perceived as key Mamata men to ride out the storm.On Wednesday , it sprung a surprise, deployed sidelined veteran panachayati raj minister Subrata Mukherjee to field questions at a press conference. Coming three days ahead of the September 13 Assembly bypolls, this was unusual.Didi had cold-shouldered the party senior during the LS polls. Mukherjee wasn’t even among key campiagners. He shared ers. He shared the podium with TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee and defended not holding an internal party probe on Saradha bizarrely: “These things happen in a communist party.”If one saw in this a new gamble to trump the CBI’s tightening grip on the Trinamool brass, Chatterjee had this to say. “It’s (Saradha) a political conspiracy against Trinamool. The script has been written by CBI to tarnish the Trinamool chief ‘s image…Truth will prevail.”Chatterjee ducked uncomfortable queries on party leaders Mukul Roy and Madan Mitra and insisted he didn’t even know of a man called Asif Khan – once Roy’s Man Friday, and former TMC observer for UP . “Who’s Asif Khan?” Chatterjee said brushing aside questions on Khan quitting the party soon after CBI questioned him. Former DGP Rajat Majumdar, now in police custody, was luckier.
