Jaitley flays Andhra, Bengal on CBI move

Bhopal : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday flayed the Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal governments for withdrawing "general consent" to the CBI for raids and investigations in their states saying scams cannot be wiped off by such a decision.

"We have a federal structure and under it the CBI was created initially for employees of the Central government and then to investigate very serious cases referred either by states or on court orders. Saradha and Naradha cannot be wiped off," he told a media conference.

Jaitley was apparently referring to the Sarada ponzi scam and the Narada sting operation involving cash bribes both of which allegedly involving senior Trinamool Congress leaders in West Bengal.

In Andhra Pradesh, the minister said the decision to keep the CBI away was not motivated by any particular case but by the fear of "what is likely to happen".

On Friday, the two state governments had withdrawn the consent to the CBI, accusing the Centre of misusing the agency against the opposition parties.