The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has on Monday directed a high-level drama in West Bengal by arresting two sitting ministers and an MLA of the ruling Trinamool Congress party, which triggered fresh tensions between the state ruling party and the Central ruling BJP. The bolt from the blue arrests had sparked protests with Mamata Banerjee issuing a new challenge to the central body. 

It was a stunning start of the week for West Bengal as a team of CBI brass had stormed the residences of two sitting ministers - Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee and arrested them in connection with the Narada scam case. Along with the two ministers, the CBI had also arrested Madan Mitra, a TMC MLA, and Sovan Chatterjee, former state minister in the same case. 

All four were arrested after Governor Jagdeep Dhankar had permitted the CBI to prosecute them in the scam, that was unfolded in 2014, during Mamata Banerjee's first tenure as the Chief Minister. The CBI officials had taken these leaders to its Eastern Region headquarters in Kolkata's Nizam Palace. After knowing that the party leaders were arrested, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had rushed to the office and protested the arrests. 

She demanded the CBI to release the arrested leaders and if they fail to release them, Mamata had challenged the officials to arrest her. She told the CBI DIG Akhilesh Kumar Singh to arrest her. As the tensions grew in the office, Akhilesh Kumar Singh has alerted the CBI headquarters in Delhi after sensing a degrading law and order situation around the office. The reports say that following the alert, hundreds of police personnel were deployed to maintain law and order.

After Mamata Banerjee had arrived at CBI's office and demanded the release of the TMC leaders, hundreds of party members and supporters had gathered before the CBI's office and began protesting against the central body for arresting the leaders. The TMC had urged the CBI to arrest Suvendu Adhikari and Mukul Roy who also were accused in the same case. 

Adhikari was serving as a Lok Sabha MP of Trinamool Congress during the scam was unfolded while Mukul Roy was one of the second line leaders of TMC at that time. Along with the arrested four leaders, Adhikari and Roy were also accused in the same case. However, the TMC has alleged that the CBI didn't arrest them as they had joined the BJP. Adhikari is now the BJP's leader in West Bengal and was recently elected as the Opposition leader of the current assembly while Mukul Roy is now a national vice president of the BJP. 

According to reports, the CBI hasn't arrested Adhikari and Roy who were accused of the scam and the CBI's actions had drawn major flak with Trinamool Congress accusing CBI of becoming 'caged parrots' serving their political masters in the Union Cabinet. On the other hand, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said that the CBI has made a correct move by arresting the TMC leaders who were accused of corruption.

On the other hand, West Bengal cabinet minister Chandrima Bhattacharya has lodged a complaint against the CBI for violating the rule that states an Assembly speaker's nod is mandatory before arresting a member of the house. The TMC workers had held protests across Kolkata and the protesters had hurled stones and water bottles at the CRPF and Kolkata Police. The protesters had attacked the security forces. The TMC supporters had broken barriers set up before the main gate and took to sloganeering against Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the protests had turned into violence, which pushed the security forces to carry out baton charges. 

Governor Jagdeep Dhankar has directed the Kolkata Police to contain the law and order issues in the state. The reports say that Mamata Banerjee has decided to stay in Nizam Palace and hold a videoconference with officials. Reacting to the arrests, TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh said that the CBI's action was a vengeful act and a fallout of the BJP's loss in the West Bengal assembly elections. He said, "The BJP is still not able to accept defeat in the polls after having made an all-out attempt to win. This is a reprehensible act."

The TMC leaders were arrested in connection with the Narada scam. In 2014, the Narada scam had hit the national headlines when journalist Matthew Samuel had conducted a sting operation in Kolkata. In the purported sting operation video, the leaders of Trinamool Congress were videographed while receiving money in doing favours for a company. Along with the politicians, a police officer was also seen in the video.