Trinamool leaders express solidarity with arrested party MP

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress MPs and state ministers on Tuesday visited the CBI regional office here to express "solidarity" with the arrested MP and partys leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay. Trinamools Rajya Sabha leader Derek OBrien and Secretary General Partha Chatterjee threw their weights behind Bandyopadhyay who on Tuesday was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation after hours of grilling in relation to the Rose Valley chit fund scam. "We conveyed our solidarity," West Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim said. "Sudip da is absolutely fine. He is confident, he is healthy and he is happy. We are going to Delhi tomorrow. By doing all this, you cannot stop TMC and Mamata Banerjee," said an agitated OBrien. "We all met him today. We told him that we all are with him under Banerjees leadership and his family is also with him," Chatterjee added. Another Trinamool MP Tapas Paul is already under arrest in connection with the scam. Bandyopadhyay alleged that the arrest was the result of political vendetta against him and the Trinamool Congress by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.-Agency